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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 






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! UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, f 



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SCENES 



LIFE OF CHRIST, 



ADAPTED TO THE 



COMPREHENSION OF CHILDREN, 



AND DESIGNED ESPECIALLY FOR 



SABBATH SCHOOLS 



BY 

REV. G. A. NIXDORFF, A. M., 

M 

PASTOR OF THE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH, OF 
GEORGETOWN, D. C. 

II 



LUTHERAN PUBLICATION SOCIETY, 

42 North Ninth Street, Philadelphia. 

1876. 








Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1876, by the 

LUTHERAN PUBLICATION SOCIETY, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 




FROM THE PRESS 

OF THE 

INQUIRER P. & P. CO., 

LANCASTER, PA. 



PREFACE 



To the children of the Sabbath-schools, this 
little volume is affectionately dedicated, with the 
very beautiful and encouraging words of the Divine 
Master: " Suffer little children, and forbid them 
not, to come unto me ; for of such is the kingdom 
of heaven. " 

Dear Children : — I made a promise, at the ear- 
nest solicitation of one of our Church agents, years 
ago, that I would write a book for the children of 
the Sabbath-school. I have not felt well satisfied 
in not having redeemed this promise; for, you 
know, we should try to fulfill all our engagements. 
I am not young any more, and life is uncertain; and 
I have therefore thought that one of the very best 
things I could do, would be, by the grace of God, 
to redeem, as soon as possible, this promise. I am 
aware, too, that it is not an easy thing to write a 

(v) 



VI PREFACE. 

book for children. One of the greatest, if not the 
greatest, difficulty with me has been to choose a 
subject which would be interesting and profitable 
to you. After having considered this part well, I 
find that I have fixed upon the subject that was first 
brought to my mind, and that is — " Scenes or Inci- 
dents in the Life of our Saviour." 

I would also state, that when I had first thought 
of writing for you on this interesting subject, some 
older heads made a very bad prophecy about you, 
and said to this effect : " Oh yes, it is a very good 
subject; but then, the children of the Sunday-schools 
nowadays don't want to read any book that is 
really and truly religious. They want story-books, 
and would much rather read about ' Robinson 
Crusoe/ than about anything the Lord Jesus has 
said or done." I told these people that I thought^ 
they were mistaken ; that I had a better opinion of 
you, and thought that a book of this kind could be 
written in such a way, that you would want to read 
it, and be pleased with it. 

Having this good opinion of you, and having 



PREFACE. Vll 

had considerable experience in the Sabbath-school, 
I now, in the fear of God, undertake to write for 
you. 

I would state, however, that this little volume 
does not by any means profess or undertake to give 
an account of all the wonderful doings of Christ, as 
written by the Evangelists. That would make a 
large volume, and defeat the object. We have 
taken the liberty to choose such incidents as could 
be made, according to our judgment, most interest- 
ing and profitable to children. It does not, either, 
profess to give these incidents in the order of time 
and place, as they occurred; but they have been se- 
lected, and in one or two instances, several of the 
same kind are thrown together (or grouped) under 
one general head: i. e. "Raising of the dead," 
where we have " The Son of the Widow of Nain," 
" Jairus' Daughter," and " Lazarus " taken together. 

The book, as all will understand, is intended for 
children, and arranged and written accordingly; 
and yet we at the same time trust that it may be 
read with profit by older persons also. 



Vlll PREFACE. 

Before you begin to read this book, however, I 
want you to pray this little prayer, which I have 
here written : 

O God, our Heavenly Father ! help me by Thy 
good Spirit to read and understand this book. It 
tells me about Jesus, my Saviour, and His wonder- 
ful doings. Grant, blessed Jesus, to open my 
young heart to receive its truths, and may I be en- 
abled to turn from sin and all evil, and seek to love, 
obey and follow Thee through life ; and after this 
short life shall have ended — as it must — receive me 
into Thy heavenly kingdom, to unite in serving Thee 
forever. Amen. 

I would herewith Acknowledge my obligations to my es- 
teemed friend, Mr. John L. Ried, of Georgetown, D. C, for 
having kindly transcribed the manuscript forme, and having 
thus aided greatly in preparing the work for the press. 

G. A. N. 




PAGE. 

CHAPTER I. 
THE BIRTH OF CHRIST, . . . 13 

CHAPTER II. 
JESUS IN THE TEMPLE, . . . 1 9 

CHAPTER III. 
TEMPTATION OF CHRIST, , , 25 

CHAPTER IV. 
SERMON ON THE MOUNT, . . 32 

CHAPTER V. 
CHRIST CLEANSES THE LEPER AND HEALS 

THE SICK, . . . -43 

CHAPTER VI. 
CHRIST AND NICODEMUS, . . -51 

CHAPTER VII. 
CHRIST AND THE WOMAN OF SAMARIA, . 57 

CHAPTER VIII. 
JESUS CASTS OUT DEVILS, . . 65 

CHAPTER IX. 
CHRIST STILLS THE TEMPEST, . . -74 

CHAPTER X. 
JESUS OPENS THE EYES OF THE BLIND AND 
CAUSES THE DEAF AND THE DUMB TO 
HEAR AND TO SPEAK, . . .80 

(ix) 



X CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XL 
THE MIRACLE OF THE LOAVES AND FISHES, 86 

CHAPTER XII. 
CHRIST RAISES THE DEAD, . . -93 

CHAPTER XIII. 
THE TRANSFIGURATION OF CHRIST, . . IO3 

'CHAPTER XIV. 
CHRIST BLESSES LITTLE CHILDREN, . .Ill 

CHAPTER XV. 
THE CALLING OF ZACCH^US, . . .121 

CHAPTER XVI. 
CHRIST ANOINTED BY MARY, . . . 1 28 

CHAPTER XVII. 
CHRIST ENTERS JERUSALEM IN TRIUMPH, . 1 34 

CHAPTER XVIII. 
CHRIST INSTITUTES THE HOLY SUPPER, . 1 42 

CHAPTER XIX. 
CHRIST'S AGONY IN THE GARDEN, . .149 

CHAPTER XX. 
THE TRIAL OF CHRIST AND HIS DENIAL BY 

PETER, . . . . . 157 

CHAPTER XXI. 
THE CRUCIFIXION OF CHRIST, . . . 1 69 

CHAPTER XXII. 
THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST, . .179 

CHAPTER XXIII. 
THE ASCENSION OF CHRIST, . . . 1 93 



SCENES IN THE 

LIFE OF CHRIST. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE BIRTH OF CHRIST.— MaM. ii ; Luke ii. 1-20. 

Golden Text. — Luke ii. 11. a For unto you is born this 
day in the city of David a Saviour , which is Christ the 
Lord." 

f^HRISTMAS has come at last. Oh! how 
^-^ long and earnestly we have waited for it, 
counting months, weeks and days. The nearer 
it has come the more anxious we have been, until 
at last we felt that .we could scarcely wait any 
longer. Now your anxiety, I fear — for I was a 
child too — arises too much from the pleasant 
time you expect to have, the presents you ex- 
pect to receive, and the nice things to eat, etc. 

(13) 



14 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

Well, we are pleased to see you happy, and en- 
joy yourselves; for Christ came into the world 
to make people happy forever, by saving them 
from sin. Whilst, however, you enjoy your- 
selves and have so many good and nice things, 
you should remember about the birth of the 
dear Saviour, and how He came into the world 
and became a little helpless child, born in great 
poverty, that He might take upon Himself our 
nature, live here, and teach us, and then die to 
save us. Think how poor and helpless He was, 
as has been beautifully written : 

" On the long-expected morn 
He was in a stable born; 
Where the horned oxen fed, 
The straw and manger were his bed. ,, 

You know, children, that shepherds were out 
at night, keeping watch over their flocks, when 
it was made known thr f Christ was born. A 
light shone round about them, and although 
Christ had been expected, they were very much 



LIFE OF CHRIST. 1 5 

frightened, or as is said in the Scripture "sore 
afraid." They did not know what the light 
meant — may perhaps have thought, at first, that 
it was a judgment, or something bad about to 
come upon them : but, you remember, the 
angel soon told them they should not fear, for 
said he, " Behold I bring you glad tidings of 
great joy, which shall be unto all people; for 
unto you is born this day in the city of David, 
a Saviour which is Christ the Lord." He told 
them how they .would find the child and his 
mother, etc. There was also a star seen by the 
" wise men" in the east, that went before them 
until it came and stood over the place where 
Jesus lay. Some one has written very beauti- 
fully about it, after this manner: 

" Brightest and best of the sons of the morning, 
Dawn on our darkness and lend us thine aid : 
Star of the east, the horizon adorning, 
Guide where the infant Redeemer is laid." 

You know how they came and found Jesus 



1 6 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

and His mother, as they had been told; and 
how glad they were when they had found Him, 
and how they opened their treasures, and gave 
Him "gold, frankincense and myrrh ;" you re- 
member, too, how Herod, a wicked king who 
lived at that time, sought to kill Jesus; and 
how His parents, "being warned of God in a 
dream," fled into Egypt, taking the young child 
with them, and thus saved His life. 

Now we may learn from this, dear children, 
that Christ the Saviour has come into the 
world, and therefore we may be saved. You 
see too how glad we should be, like the "wise 
men" when they saw the star, and found Jesus 
— so too, we should seek after Jesus by prayer, 
and reading and hearing of Him ; and we too 
should be glad when we find Him, that is, 
when we believe in Him and feel our sins for- 
given. If we love Jesus as these "wise men" 
seem to have done, we also will seek to do 
something for Him; give money — gold, if we 



LIFE OF CHRIST. 1 7 

have any — to tell other people in heathenish 
darkness and who worship idols, about Christ, 
this loving Saviour. We should also remem- 
ber that Christ and His Church still have their 
enemies, who are opposed to Him and are 
seeking to hinder His kingdom. We should 
shun the society of wicked people, and pray 
that God would convert them unto Himself. 

O, Saviour! Thy kingdom cannot be de- 
stroyed: grant to send out missionaries; and 
may all people soon hear of Thee, and know 
that Thou hast come into the world, and art 
willing and able to save. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE LOST CHILD; OR, JESUS IN THE TEMPLE 
WITH THE DOCTORS.— Luke ii. 42-52. 

Golden Text. — Luke ii. 52. "And Jesus increased in 
wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man" 

A CHILD lost! What an excitement the 
^^ cry makes in any city, village, or section 
of country. The people leave their homes, and 
go forth cheerfully, with one accord, in search 
of the missing one. Every lane, nook and 
corner is carefully examined; the forest is 
searched, and if the dear one is not found, as a 
last resort the waters are dragged for the body. 
Now Jesus, at the age of twelve years, had 
gone up to Jerusalem with His parents to at- 
tend one of the great feasts, that of the Pass- 
over, celebrated in remembrance of the night 
in Egypt, in which the destroying angel passed 

(19) 



20 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

over the homes of ancient Israel, because, at 
the command of God, these houses had been 
marked with blood. 

The parents of Jesus had spent a number of 
days at Jerusalem, attending this great feast, 
and had gone a day's journey from the city be- 
fore they missed Jesus. The reason why they 
did not miss Him earlier may have been that 
there were sometimes a number of families to- 
gether, who may also have had children; and 
knowing Jesus to be a loving and dutiful child, 
they may not have made themselves uneasy 
about Him. At the end of the first day's jour- 
ney, perhaps as they were about going to rest, 
or to partake of a frugal evening meal, they 
missed their son. Now, as you may well 
think, they felt very sad, when all at once they 
found that Jesus was not with them. They 
asked just as other parents would have done 
who love a child ; and after having searched 
for him among their "kinsfolk and acquaint- 



LIFE OF CHRIST. 21 

ance" in vain, they then started back towards 
Jerusalem, as was very natural for them to 
do, and found Him, at length, at Jerusalem, in 
the temple with the doctors, " hearing and ask- 
ing them questions." 

It must certainly have surprised His parents 
very much, to find their little son thus engaged. 
Most children, if lost, would be found perhaps 
on the street, looking at the many pretty 
things to be seen; but Jesus was "in the tem- 
ple." Now it seems to me they must have 
thought " well, He is in a good place, at any 
rate ;" but then the idea of one so young sit- 
ting in the midst of aged, learned men, with 
perhaps their grey beards, must have struck 
them as very strange. When asked why He 
acted as He had done, He, we suppose, gives 
them to know for the first time something of 
His character, and replies : " Wist ye not that 
I must be about my Father's business." He 
was more than a child, and He realized it. 



22 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

This justifies His conduct to His parents in 
remaining. He was really far above His par- 
ents, the Lord of heaven and earth. 

Now, children, we see from this how Jesus 
increased in knowledge, as He grew in years; 
and this should urge you to learn too, espe- 
cially about God, and salvation, and this 
Saviour who was once a little child. For this 
purpose, to help you to learn of Christ, and to 
increase in this knowledge, have I written this 
book. You can learn much whilst young, and 
what you now learn well, will not soon be for- 
gotten ; and instead of spending all your spare 
time in play, for children should play some- 
times, try to read good books, especially your 
Bible ; and instead of being in the company of 
the ignorant and wicked, try to be in the soci- 
ety of good and wise people, remembering that 
God's word says that "a companion of wise 
men shall be wise, but a companion of fools 
shall be destroyed." If you want to know 



LIFE OF CHRIST. 23 

anything about your lesson that you do not 
understand, ask your kind teachers politely, 
and they will try to answer your questions. 
Any one may, however, ask very hard ques- 
tions, which it is almost impossible to answer ; 
and, when this is the case, you must be satisfied 
with your teacher, or friend, doing the best for 
you they can. "Secret things belong unto 
God," and there is much that we will never 
know certainly in this world : strive to be wise 
and good. 

We too are in danger of being lost forever, 
for we have gone away from God and have 
sinned against him. 

God, our heavenly Father, like unto these 
parents of Jesus, comes after us, and seeks us 
by His good Spirit, and by the prayers and kind 
words of our Sabbath-school teachers, pastors, 
or other pious friends. As Jesus immediately 
obeyed His parents, and went back with them, 
and was " subject unto them at Nazareth," so 



24 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

too should we in our young days, before we 
have gone off as far as many older persons 
have done in sin, seek to return unto our 
Heavenly Father, by repenting of sin, and be- 
lieving in Christ our Saviour, through whom 
alone we can be pardoned and become child- 
ren of God. 




CHAPTER III. 

CHRIST'S TEMPTATION IN THE WILDERNESS.— Matthew 
iv. i— ii. Mark i. 12, 13. 

Golden Text. — Hebrews ii. 18. "For in that he him- 
self hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succor them 
that are tempted." 

A WILDERNESS, children, is, as you 
-^ ^- know, a wild place, where few if any peo- 
ple live; large trees, bushes and rocks all serve 
to give it a very wild look. I have traveled 
through such dreary places, especially when I 
was preaching in West Virginia. Now, I sup- 
pose many of you would be afraid to go into 
such a place alone ; and if you knew that you 
would probably meet a wild man, or a savage 
beast, you would be still more afraid. 

God's ways are wonderful. Here you see 
almost immediately after the baptism of Christ 

(*5) 



26 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

He is " led up of the Spirit" into such a place, 
to meet Satan and be tempted. 

I have not, as you see, given you a chapter 
on the Saviour's baptism, although it was a 
great and important event, as I did not think 
that you would perhaps understand it as well, 
or be as much interested in it, as in some other 
things. It will be enough for me to state 
that Jesus came to Jordan, and desired John 
to baptize Him; and that John, knowing His 
exalted character, was slow at first to do it; 
but that after Jesus gave His reason — " for thus 
it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness" — 
John then did as Christ desired him. 

You know, too, how that, after His baptism, 
"the heavens were opened," and the Spirit of 
God descended upon Him, and ^a voice from 
heaven" said, "This is my beloved Son, in 
whom I am well pleased." 

I have only to tell you here that baptism is 
an ordinance of God, and that we should all 



LIFE OF CHRIST. 2J 

be baptized in the name of the Triune God — 
Father, Son and Holy Ghost ; but that, unless 
we repent of sin, and really believe in Jesus, 
baptism will not save us. It would seem that 
almost immediately after the baptism of Christ, 
He was "led up of the Spirit into the wilder- 
ness, to be tempted of the devil." Now, God, 
it is said, tempts no man; but He did so direct 
as to have His Son, our Saviour, go where He 
would be tempted. He knew that He could 
and would overcome the tempter, and that it 
was necessary that He should be tempted, that 
He might feel for us in our many and strong 
temptations. How cunning, powerful and per- 
severing Satan is in his temptations ! You see 
how he suited the temptations to Christ's situ- 
ation, and how strongly he sought to excite 
His ambition. 

He knew that Christ had been fasting and 
was hungry ; he knew that it was right to eat; 
and, therefore, he asks first that the Saviour 



28 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

should show His power in commanding "that 
these stones be made bread ;" but Christ an- 
swered him from the Scriptures, " It is written 
that man shall not live by bread alone, but by 
every word that proceedeth out of the mouth 
of God." As though He had said, God can 
keep me alive without bread. He doubtless 
knew, too, that if He was hungry, and went to 
the door of some kind people, they would 
give Him something to eat; and that, therefore, 
it was not necessary that He should change the 
stones into bread to please Satan. 

He then tried another temptation, by taking 
Him # into Jerusalem (here called the " holy 
city") and setting Him on the high part of the 
temple (called here "pinnacle") and requesting 
Him to cast Himself down, as there was a pro- 
mise in the Scriptures that He should not be 
hurt, because the angels would watch over 
Him. The Saviour told him that it was also 
written that we were not to tempt God. That 



LIFE OF CHRIST. 29 

is, that we are not to place ourselves in danger 
when it is not necessary. The devil having 
failed in his two temptations, tries a third or 
last one. 

He then takes Jesus up "into an exceeding 
high mountain, and shows Him all the king- 
doms of the world, and the glory of them ;" 
and says, "All these things will I give thee if 
thou wilt fall down and worship me." Then 
the Saviour told him to leave, and said : " It is 
written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, 
and Him only shalt thou serve." 

Now, my young friends, you know that 
Satan still lives, and will come after us, too, 
and seek to lead us to do wrong. You see, 
too, how cunning and persevering he is. He 
knows how to suit the temptation to our situa- 
tion, or rather, as he does not, like God, know 
all things, he judges from his past dealing with 
people, what will be likely to please them ; and 
if he fails with one temptation, as was the case 



30 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

with the Saviour, he tries another, and tries 
like a general to find our weak point. One he 
tempts to steal ; another to get angry, and say 
bad words; another to be proud, etc. He 
tempts little children, too, and begins very 
early. This is one reason why you sometimes 
find it hard to do good. He tempts you to 
disobey your parents ; to get angry with each 
other ; to want what you should not have ; to 
be proud of your pretty clothes, and think 
that you, perhaps, are better than other child- 
ren, because you have finer and more costly 
clothes than they. He tempts you to stay 
away from Sabbath-school and from church; 
he tempts you to talk and be mischievous 
when there, not listening to what your kind 
teacher says, and making your dear superin- 
tendent trouble. Satan is ever busy, and we 
must watch him: we may always know that 
when we desire to do wrong, Satan, or our 
own wicked hearts, or both together, are 



LIFE OF CHRIST. 3 1 

tempting us. He is a deceiver, and makes 
great promises— what he will do for us, and 
how pleasant it will be to sin — but as soon as 
we have done wrong, guilt and pain follow\ 
He promised our first parents in Eden much ; 
and deceived, and made them miserable. He 
promised Christ the world; but he never had a 
world to give, because the world does not be- 
long to him, but to God who made it. As 
Christ brought up Scripture to resist him, so 
should you; and you therefore see, too, how 
important it is that you commit to memory, or 
get it as we sometimes say "by heart." If we 
do this, and look to God in prayer, when we 
are tempted to do wrong, God can and will 
preserve and deliver us, and Satan, that wicked 
and miserable spirit, will go away from us, and 
we shall feel so happy that we obeyed God, 
and would not listen to his lies. 



CHAPTER IV. 

CHRIST'S SERMON ON THE MOUNT;— Matthew v.-vii. 

Golden Text. — John vii. 46, " Never man spake like 
this man" 

TT7E have here, children, an instance of 
Christ preaching. They had then no 
Christian churches as we have, but the Sa- 
viour sometimes went into the Jewish places 
of worship and took part in their services. In 
this instance, however, He prefers the open air 
for it may be that scarcely any house would 
have been large enough for the people. 

The expression here used, " and seeing the 
multitudes He went up into a mountain,'' seems 
to mean that Christ selected the mount on ac- 
count of the large number of people who were 
anxious to hear Him, and desired, doubtless, 
that all might have this opportunity. " Into 

(32) 



LIFE OF CHRIST. 33 

the mount," away from the noise and bustle of 
the city, where, under His own heavens and 
shaded by the trees which He as God had 
caused to grow, they might hear His words 
and be taught in heavenly things without being 
disturbed. We should feel thankful that at 
this day we have good, convenient and com- 
fortable churches in which to worship God; 
and yet if we did not have them, or were com- 
pelled to give them up, as some have been in 
times of persecution, we could just as well 
worship God in the open air. The number of 
persons who wanted to hear Jesus on this 
occasion must have been quite large. Here, 
" on the mount," they could all be accommo- 
dated. The Saviour, we suppose, sat above 
them, and so they could all hear. 

I have stated that He sat, as the sacred re- 
cord informs us. Now this would seem strange 
to many of us who are not used to see the 
minister sit when preaching; but it was the 
3 



34 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

custom for the Jewish teachers to sit when in- 
structing the people, and therefore I do not 
suppose that they thought strange of that. 

It is here said " He opened His mouth and 
taught them," that is, began to preach or teach 
them. Now, I think I can imagine the scene. 
All the people are quietly seated around and 
below Christ, on a beautiful day ; the shade of 
the trees protects from the heat of the sun ; all 
is silent, and nothing heard, perhaps, but the 
occasional sweet notes of some little bird; the 
people are in breathless silence to hear this great 
Teacher. He begins by calling several classes 
of persons "blessed," whom a wicked world 
would never esteem thus. " The poor in spirit" 
are first called "blessed." By these the Saviour 
means the humble. He next says that those 
"who mourn" are "blessed," "for they shall 
be comforted." He refers chiefly, we suppose, 
to those who mourn on account of sin. God 
Himself will comfort all such. He next styles 



LIFE OF CHRIST. 35 

"the meek," gentle, loving souls, "blessed" — 
this class of people stand opposed to the proud 
and ambitious. The Saviour says, "they shall 
inherit the earth." He next says those are 
"blessed" who "hunger and thirst after right- 
eousness, for they shall be filled." Now hun- 
ger and thirst are two of our most urgent 
wants. If you have not been hungry, and God 
has blessed you with good and kind parents, 
you should feel thankful ; for many little boys 
and girls in the large cities almost starve. Per- 
haps you have been thirsty, and you feel, Oh ! 
what would I not give for a drink of water ! 
especially if you have been sick and had some 
fever. Now the Saviour calls those "blessed" 
who desire to be good as earnestly as hungry and 
thirsty people do bread and water. The soul 
that once sees its lost and perishing condition, 
craves forgiveness and salvation as much as the 
hungry and thirsty do bread and water. The 
Saviour next calls the "merciful" "blessed;" 



36 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

that is, persons who have tender and forgiving 
hearts, and who can feel for the sorrows of 
others. Some children, — and grown people 
too, — are very unmerciful to each other, and 
especially to dumb brutes, who can not speak 
and tell their troubles. It always shows me 
that the person or child that can do so, has a 
very hard and wicked heart. Jesus next tells 
us that "the pure in heart" are "blessed," "for 
they shall see God." Our hearts are naturally 
impure, and have many sinful thoughts and de- 
sires, but they must be made "pure" by God's 
Word and Spirit if we would "see God." Now 
children, all our outward works and doings 
will not help, unless our hearts are made 
"pure." It will be a great thing to see God. 
All will see the Saviour when He comes again, 
and at the judgment day; but to "see" Him 
here means to live with Him in heaven. Christ 
then calls "the peacemakers" "blessed," for, 
says He, " they shall be called the children of 



LIFE OF CHRIST. 37 

God." Now my young friends, you may begin 
early to be "peacemakers;" for when you know 
that two of your little companions or playmates 
have had some difficulty, you can go kindly to 
them, and by speaking gently to them seek to 
bring them together again. This is one of the 
many ways in which we can do good in the 
world, and the Saviour here says that such 
"shall be called the children of God." One 
more class of persons is called "blessed" by 
the Saviour, and they are such as are per- 
secuted for righteousness* sake. This world is 
so wicked that if we seek to do right in all 
things, reprove sin, and do our duty, wicked 
people will hate us and persecute us. That is, 
they will say, perhaps, bad things about us, 
laugh at us, and seek to injure us. Christ and 
His Apostles and the first Christians were very 
much persecuted, and many of the early Chris- 
tians put to death for their love to the Saviour. 
Now Jesus says "for theirs is the kingdom of 



38 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

heaven. " He then, in this connection, calls 
those "blessed" around Him who should thus 
suffer, and intends all who shall be persecuted 
for this cause. Christ, when He preached at 
this time, did not choose a particular text, and 
dwell on that, but, as you see, He instructs or 
teaches the people about many duties. He 
next styles His disciples "the salt of the earth" 
and "the light of the world." As salt purifies 
and saves from putrefaction, so Christians are 
represented as purifying, and to some extent 
saving the world. 

Thus you remember that the Lord would 
have spared Sodom, if only ten righteous per- 
sons had been found in it. Christians are 
also to be "the light of the world." The 
world is in darkness, and needs light ; Chris- 
tians, by their example and influence, are to 
point to Christ, show what His religion has 
done for them, and thus, by pointing out the 
way to heaven, be " the light of the world." 



LIFE OF CHRIST. 39 

The Saviour next teaches the duty of for- 
giveness; then, that all sin, no matter though 
it should be dear and profitable unto us, as a 
right eye or hand, must be given up, if we 
would be saved. 

He then proceeds to caution persons against 
swearing, and says, " let your communications 
be yea, yea, nay, nay." The Quaker Friends 
and others understand this to be directed 
against swearing of all kinds ; and, therefore, 
only affirm in courts. 

Our Divine Teacher next instructs us in 
regard to prayer and alms-giving, and teaches 
us that these things must not be done for 
show or vain glory, or to attract attention, and 
then in the Lord's prayer gives us an example 
of how we should pray. He teaches us next 
that we are to strive mainly after heavenly 
things, and "lay up our treasure" there y and 
tells us that we " cannot serve two masters ;" 
but that as His people, we should have a firm 



40 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

trust in His providential care, and encour- 
ages this from two illustrations taken from the 
natural world. The first is, " the fowls of the 
air," how God takes care of them; and the 
second is, " the lilies of the field," and says, in 
reference to them, that " even Solomon in all 
his glory was not arrayed like one of these!' 
The conclusion is, that if God takes care of 
these lower and frail things, He will also take 
care of us if we put our trust in Him. 

He next warns us against harsh and rash 
judgments in regard to our fellow men; warns 
us against "casting our pearls before swine ;" 
encourages us again to prayer, from the man- 
ner in which parents hear and usually grant 
the requests of their children ; warns us 
against "false prophets," and tells us that "by 
their fruits," or lives, we shall know them. 

In conclusion, He illustrates His whole ser- 
mon by two builders, and says that those who 
hear His sayings, and do them, " shall be 



LIFE OF CHRIST. 4 1 

likened unto a wise man that built his house 
upon a rock ; and the floods came, and the 
winds blew and beat upon that house, and it 
fell not, for it was founded upon a rock." 
Such as will not obey, he likened unto "a fool- 
ish man who built his house upon the sand ; 
and the rains descended, and the floods came, 
and the winds blew and. beat upon that house, 
and it fell, and great was the fall of it." Obe- 
dience to Christ's teachings is the foundation 
of rock. Have we, my young friends, built 
on this foundation ? If 'so, it will stand. 




CHAPTER V. 

CHRIST CLEANSES THE LEPER AND HEALS THE 

SICK.— Matthew viii. 1-17. 

Golden Text. — Matthew iv. 24: "And He healed them ." 

QICKNESS, suffering, and death, have en- 
tered our world, as you know, by sin. It 
was a sad hour, when our first parents disobeyed 
God their Maker, and listened to the voice of 
the tempter. I have little doubt that my young 
friends have often thought with me, in seeing so 
much sickness and death around us in the world, 
"Oh! that man had never sinned." But our 
wishes do not generally change things, and 
sickness and death go on. Now, when Jesus 
came into our world it was then as now full of 
sickness and suffering. There are, too, as you 
know, a great many kinds of ailments among 
people. All these forms of sickness were, 

(43) 



44 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

however, subject to Christ. He had only to 
speak, and diseases fled at His Word. I sup- 
pose you think it must have been very good 
for the people of that time to have had such a 
person as Jesus with them. So it was,.and we 
may sometimes wish in our sickness and afflic- 
tion that Jesus could still in person be with us 
He was just such a Friend and Helper as the 
people needed ; of a tender and sympathizing 
heart, joined with power and willingness to re- 
lieve. Now sometimes persons may be willing 
to help, but they may not be able ; and they 
may on the other hand be able, but not willing; 
but Christ was both able and willing. It is said 
at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, about 
which you have read, that "when He was 
come down from the mountain great multitudes 
followed Him." This seems as though they 
must have been much interested in His preach- 
ing, and many perhaps thought that they should 
hear more, or see this great Teacher do some 
wonderful works. 



LIFE OF CHRIST. 45 

Well, it would seem that He had scarcely- 
more than come down from teaching the 
people, when a poor afflicted person met Him, 
and asked Him most humbly and earnestly to 
cure him. This man is called "a leper." This 
may be a strange name to some of my young 
friends, as we have not this disease in our 
country. It is a most fearful disease, which 
was and is still in Eastern countries. It began 
commonly .on the face about the nose and eyes, 
showing itself at first in little pimples or spots. 
These increased in size, and gradually spread 
over the whole body. It was not a sickness 
that ended in death directly, but went on grow- 
ing worse and worse, until even the bones and 
marrow were reached by it, and in its last 
stage the joints of the body would be sepa- 
rated, and the body fall into pieces. A person 
with this sickness might live, it is said, twenty, 
thirty, or even for fifty years; but I suppose 
the time of suffering with many of them was 




46 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

much shorter than this. No mere human 
power could cure this disease; and although 
they might linger a long time, yet death was 
their certain doom. This sickness was, it is 
supposed, regarded as contagious, and there- 
fore they were separated from other people, 
and they had to satisfy the priest, in olden 
times, that they were certainly healed, before 
they were allowed to go among the people 
again. Notice how humbly this poor man 
comes to Jesus, and yet with such full faith in 
the power of Christ to cleanse Him. It is stated 
here that he "worshiped" Jesus and said, "Lord, 
if Thou wilt Thou canst make me clean." 

Now my young friends, we are sinners, and 
sin is a worse sickness than even the leprosy ; 
for unless we are cleansed from it, our bodies 
and souls must perish forever. None can de- 
liver or save but Jesus, who shed His blood on 
the cross for us; and if we would be saved we 
too must come humbly and in faith to Him. 






LIFE OF CHRIST. 47 

This sickness became worse and worse every- 
day, week and month. So too the longer we 
stay away from Christ, our Saviour, the greater 
is our sin, guilt and danger. We should seek 
to come early to this loving Redeemer, before 
our hearts are hardened. I have no doubt you 
have seen some very wicked old people. I 
attended the funeral of an old man, who died 
at the table whilst eating, and it was said that 
the last word he uttered was an oath. How 
fearful to live and die in sin, when you have 
such a kind and almighty Saviour! 

The language of our hearts should be : 

"I'll go to Jesus, though my sin 
Hath like a mountain rose ; 
I know His courts, I'll enter in, 
Whatever may oppose." 

We have an account next of the Saviour en- 
tering into Capernaum, and healing "the cen- 
turion's servant." 

Capernaum was a town on the western 



48 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

coast of the Sea of Tiberias, and was a place in 
which Jesus did many wonderful works ; and 
because they repented not after having seen 
and heard so much, Jesus threatened them 
with some of His heaviest judgments. This 
centurion, however, unlike many others of 
this town, believed in the power of Christ. 
He was an officer in the Roman army, and, as 
his name means, had a hundred soldiers under 
him. He not only showed that he had faith 
in Jesus, but was a kind-hearted man, for he 
felt for his sick servant, and came to Christ 
desiring that He should heal him. The 
Saviour proposed to come to his house, and 
heal his servant; but this man had so much 
faith in the power of Christ, and such a sense 
of his unworthiness, that he told Him it was 
not necessary that He should come, but that 
He should only " speak the word," and his ser- 
vant would be cured. He reasoned, too, very 
beautifully from his own situation or position 



LIFE OF CHRIST. 49 

as an officer. He said he was a man under 
authority, and had soldiers under him, " and I 
say to this man, go, and he goeth ; and to 
another, come, and he cometh ; and to my 
servant, do this, and he doeth it." Now he 
meant to say to Jesus, you have just as much 
and far greater power over sickness. You 
can just stand here, and " speak the word," 
"and my servant shall be healed." The 
Saviour said he was a man of great faith, and 
that He had not found so great faith "in 
Israel" — that is, among His own, or the Jew- 
ish people. This man's servant was healed, 
as you know, and that without Christ going 
to his house. 

Now if we would be saved ourselves, or 
desir^ that Jesus should deliver our friends 
from sin and save them, we must come unto 
Him in faith, and in prayer, as this man did. 
If your friends were sick, you would desire 
very much to have a doctor, and long to see 
4 



SO LIFE OF CHRIST. 

them well. How much more should you feel 
concerned about them, when you know that 
they are living in sin, and that unless they 
repent they will lose their precious souls. 
My young friends, you have only one refuge 
for yourselves and others; go to Jesus in 
prayer, and ask him to convert and save them ; 
and oh ! how glad you will be when you see 
them rejoicing in Christ as their Redeemer. 




CHAPTER VI. 

THE CONVERSATION OF CHRIST WITH NICO- 
DEMUS.— John iii. 

Golden Text. — John iii. f : " Ye must be born again." 

r I ^HE sun had set, and the mantle of dark- 

■*• ness covered the earth, when rather a 

remarkable and interesting person visited 

Jesus. The Divine Master was not only 

engaged during the busy hours of the day, but 

* 

also during the silent hours of the night. 
This man occupied quite a high place among 
the Jewish people, being a member of the 
great council of the nation. Various reasons 
have been given for his coming to Christ by 
night. Some have supposed that as the Di- 
vine Master was so much engaged during the 
day, this man thought that the night would 
afford him the best opportunity to have a calm, 

(50 • 



52 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

personal talk with the Lord Jesus Christ : 
others, that as Nicodemus was a ruler of the 
Jews, he was, perhaps, so much engaged him- 
self during the day, as scarcely to be able to 
find time for this conversation ; others still 
have supposed, and I think, perhaps, most cor- 
rectly, that it was through fear of the Jews — 
because, you know, they hated and opposed 
Christ and His cause. It was also considered 
a sufficient reason for persecution on their part, 
if any one showed a disposition to become a 
disciple of Christ. As the danger was so 
great, I have little doubt that this man came 
at first somewhat timidly to the Saviour. You 
should feel very thankful to God, my young 
friends, that you live in another age and land. 
Here there is not only no law against Chris- 
tianity, but the laws protect you, and great 
exertions are put forth in the Sabbath-school 
and elsewhere to bring you to Christ. Oh ! ' 
how different it is with us, to what it was with 
Nicodemus, 



LIFE OF CHRIST. 53 

This man, as soon as he came to Jesus, 
began to speak very well of Him, and said, as 
you may remember: " Rabbi (or master), we 
know that Thou art a Teacher come from 
God ; for no man can do these miracles that 
Thou doest, except God be with him." The 
Saviour immediately brought to his attention 
the great doctrine of His kingdom, as though 
he had said, You are convinced that I am a 
teacher from God, and I will now teach you at 
once the great doctrine of My kingdom ; and 
said unto him : " Verily, verily, I say unto 
you, except a man be born again, he cannot 
see the kingdom of heaven." This man was 
quite astonished at the doctrine of Jesus, and 
did not understand it at all, and asked a 
strange question about it. The Saviour told 
him again most positively that this change 
must take place in us, if we would be saved. 
He tried to explain to him that as we came 
into the world with sinful natures, through 



54 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

the fall of our First Parents, this change was 
necessary to fit us for heaven. The Saviour 
told him further that this was a mysterious 
change, such as we cannot fully understand, 
saying, " the wind bloweth where it listeth, 
and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst 
not tell whence it cometh or whither it goeth ; 
so is every one that is born of the spirit. ,, 
Nicodemus did not still understand Jesus, and 
he then said unto Him in language somewhat 
reproving, " Art Thou a master in Israel, and 
knowest not these things ?" Now, my young 
friends, many well-educated people, and some 
that have attended preaching and Sabbath- 
school for years, seem to know little and care 
less about this great doctrine ; and yet Jesus 
teaches that unless we are thus changed, we 
cannot enter heaven. 

This change consists of two parts — repent- 
ance of sin and faith in Christ. We can never 
be truly said to "be born again," or the second 



LIFE OF CHRIST. 55 

time, until through repentance we are led to 
receive the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal 
Redeemer. The moment however we do thus 
believe, whether we know it or not, is the time 
in which we are born again. This too is the 
time when we begin really to love and serve 
God. Now, whether we do know the precise 
time or not, is not a matter of great import- 
ance, but the thing itself we should know. We 
know that there has been a strong wind passing 
over the country when we see large trees torn 
up by the roots; and so too when we find our 
hearts are changed, sinful habits broken up, 
and find that we now really love God and de- 
light in His ways, we may know that a great 
change has taken place in our hearts. The 
blind man of whom we read could not tell 
much about the way in which his eyes were 
opened ; but one thing he did know, that 
whereas he had been blind, now he saw. We 
have reason to believe too, that some are con- 



$6 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

verted or thus changed very young; and you 
should not therefore wait until you become 
grown in order to become Christians. 

From what we read afterwards about this 
man Nicodemus, we learn that he became a 
warm friend of Jesus: see John vii. 49-53; 
also, John xix. 39; and we think that his con- 
versation with Christ must have done him 
much good. I sincerely hope that none of you 
who read this little book will rest satisfied 
until you know that by true repentance and 
humble faith in Jesus as your Saviour, you 
have been born again into His kingdom, and 
then, as we shall see in another chapter, if we 
really have thus become Christians ourselves, 
we will go earnestly to work and seek to bring 
others to this Saviour who has become so 
precious unto our own souls. 



CHAPTER VII. 

CHRIST'S CONVERSATION WITH THE WOMAN OF 
SAMARIA— John iv. 1-30. 

Golden Text. — John ix. 4, "I must work the works of 
Him that sent me while it is day ; the night cometh when no 
man can work" 

TT7E have in this chapter another instance 
* * of the busy life of Jesus. He was here 
traveling from one part of the Holy Land to 
another, or from the southern great division 
called Judea. He was journeying northward to 
Galilee. In going from the southern to the 
northern division, unless He would go consid- 
erably out of His way, by crossing the Jordan 
and going up on the east side, He was com- 
pelled to go through Samaria, the middle 
great division. He had now got into Sama- 
ria, in His journey northward, and reached a 

(57) 



58 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

city called Sychar. It was about the sixth 
hour, or according to our way of counting 
twelve o'clock in the day, which was also the 
time for one of the Jewish meals. Jesus being 
wearied with His journey, for He was true 
man as well as true God, sat on the well to 
rest. It may have been a pretty place, shaded 
and suited for a weary traveler to rest. Whilst 
seated here, tired and thirsty, " there cometh a 
woman of Samaria to draw water." Jesus 
asked her to give Him a drink, both, we sup- 
pose, because He really was thirsty, and 
because He desired to have some conversation 
with her. We would not be surprised if a 
weary traveler should ask a drink of any of 
us, no matter to what nation he might belong. 
But this poor woman thought it very strange 
that Christ, being a Jew, should ask such a 
favor from her, as the Jews had no dealings 
with the Samaritans. These Samaritans were 
a people composed of a few of the ten tribes 



LIFE OF CHRIST. 59 

and a mixture of foreigners. After the return 
of the Jews from Babylon, whither they had 
been carried captives, they set to work to 
rebuild the temple. The Samaritans wanted 
to aid them, but as the Jews thought they were 
not doing it from love to God, they refused 
their help. This, among other things, made 
them angry with their Jewish neighbors, and 
even went so far as to lead them, as we have 
seen, to have no dealings with each other. 
This woman may have known that Jesus was 
a Jew, either from His way of speaking or 
mode of dress ; at any rate, she seems to have 
had no difficulty in this respect. Now, not- 
withstanding Jesus was weary and thirsty, yet 
so great was His love to the souls of people, 
that He began directly to seek to teach her 
the way of salvation. Jesus knew the worth 
of a soul, for it was to save the souls of men 
that He came down from heaven to earth. 
Now see in what a beautiful and natural way 



60 LIFE OF CHRIST/ 

Christ speaks to this poor woman in regard to 
matters of religion. They were both at the 
well (Jacob's well, of old and pleasant memo- 
ries). He had asked a drink of water from 
this old, deep well, where Jacob, his children 
and cattle had slaked their thirst. This 
woman is surprised that Jesus, being a Jew, 
should ask this favor of her, and the Saviour 
then begins by saying, " If thou knewest the 
gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, 
Give me to drink ; thou wouldst have asked, 
of Him, and He would have given thee living 
water." The woman, not at all understanding 
Jesus — and unconverted people do not under- 
stand spiritual things-r-told the Saviour that 
the well was deep, and that He had nothing 
to draw with. Oh ! my young friends, in how 
great darkness we are by nature ! Christ was 
speaking of giving the water of salvation, and 
this woman supposed that He meant natural 
water ; but Jesus still went on, saying, " Who- 



LIFE OF CHRIST. 6 1 

soever drinketh of this (natural) water (or 
from the well), shall thirst again ; but whoso- 
ever drinketh of the water that I shall give 
him, shall never thirst, but the water that I shall 
give him shall be in him a well of water spring- 
ing up into everlasting life." The poor woman 
did not yet understand Christ in anything of a 
spiritual way, but showed her utter ignorance 
by asking Jesus to give her of this water, that 
she might be saved trouble and labor, and that 
she might have no need to come to this well 
"to draw." The Saviour now drops all figura- 
tive language, and by asking her to go and 
call her husband (for He was omniscient), 
designed at once to touch her conscience, and 
bring her sin of adultery to view. She then 
said He was a a prophet," but sought, as un- 
converted people frequently do, when pressed 
strongly to seek the salvation of their souls, to 
draw the Saviour's attention to something 
else, and change the subject, saying, " Our 



62 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

fathers worshiped in this mountain, and ye 
say that Jerusalem is the place where men 
ought to worship." Now many, if not all, of 
the Jews held this doctrine, but Jesus never 
preached it, so that it could not be truthfully 
charged to Him. He then makes Himself 
known to this woman as the promised Mes- 
sias, whom they were expecting, and the Sa- 
viour of the world, saying, " I that speak unto 
thee am He." This seems to have excited her 
very much, and I suppose made her feel glad, 
so that she " left her water-pot, and went her 
way into the city, and saith to the men, Come 
and see a man which told me all things that I 
ever did. Is not this the Christ ?" It is not 
positively said that this woman became a 
Christian, but we suppose that she was led to 
believe in Jesus as her Saviour. 

Now, my young friends, the great lesson I 
desire to impress on your minds, and the 
minds of all who may read this book, is that 



LIFE OF CHRIST. 63 

if we love Jesus ourselves, we must all work 
for Him, in a natural way, as He did, by seek- 
ing to bring others to Him. Our time is 
short ; life is uncertain ; the souls of men are 
valuable above everything else. They or we 
may be taken away suddenly. " Oh ! speak a 
word for Jesus, your dearest friend so true." 
Do it, too, as Christ did ; begin in a pleasant, 
natural way, with your little playmates, broth- 
ers, sisters, or friends. Here God's works, and 
providence, and the scenes of everyday life, 
all come to our help ; the setting sun, the 
beautiful pale moon, the stream of water, the 
funeral procession, the bed of sickness and 
suffering; in short, all the bright and dark 
scenes in this world, may be used in leading 
the mind to Christ; and here, as in every 
other thing, practice makes perfect, and if you 
never begin, you will never succeed. I know 
you would not desire to be saved alone, or 
" wear a starless crown." Oh ! then, begin ! 



64 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

Do it prudently, lovingly, prayerfully, and per- 
severingly, and God will bless and honor your 
efforts to win souls to Himself. I have only 
to add, in the language of that beautiful hymn 
which we sometimes sing : 

" Work, for the night is coming ; 
Work through the morning hours, 
Work while the dew is falling, 
Work 'mid springing flowers, 
Work when the day grows brighter, 

Work in the glowing sun : 
Work, for the night is coming 
When man's work is done." 




CHAPTER VIII. 

JESUS CASTETH OUT DEVILS.— Mark v. 1-19 ; ■ 
Matthew viii. 28-34. 

Golden Text. — Luke xi. 20.: " But if I, with the finger 
of God, cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come 
upon you" 

npHIS is another of the wonderful works 
^ which Jesus did when on earth. We 
read that persons really were possessed of 
devils, and according to the account given us, 
especially by Mark, the condition of this poor 
man for whom Christ did this great kindness 
must have been distressing in the highest 
degree. Some learned men have desired to 
teach us that what is here spoken of as being 
a possession by an evil spirit, was only a 
severe form of disease, or derangement of 
the mind. But these men are very much mis- 
5 (65) 



66 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

taken; for these evil spirits conversed with 
Jesus, and one of them gave his name, and 
they also came out at the command of Christ, 
and in this instance entered into a herd of 
swine, and caused the swine to destroy them- 
selves. But notice the condition, sad condi- 
tion, of this man, when he was thus possessed 
by evil spirits. It is here stated of him that 
" he had his dwelling among the tombs," and 
further, that he was " always day and night in 
the mountains and in the tombs, crying, and 
cutting himself with stones." Now, my young 
friends, I think you will agree with me, that it 
would be hard to describe a human being in a 
worse and more pitiable situation than this 
poor unfortunate man was. It may be that he 
did not look much any more like a human 
being, and I suppose we should all have been 
frightened if we had met him. It was a mercy 
that he had withdrawn himself from human 
society, and seemed to be better satisfied to be 



LIFE OF CHRIST. 67 

in among the dead. His situation, however, 
was not only thus lonely and gloomy, but he 
made the place terrible by his cries and noise. 
Now graveyards are usually very lonely places 
and have gloomy associations, but these were 
made much more so by the presence and cries 
of this man. 

Some persons, and especially the young, are 
apt to think that religion is calculated to rob 
them of their joy, and make them gloomy, and 
unhappy. This is no doubt a snare of the evil 
spirit, to keep them from the enjoyment of true 
happiness, which flows only from a sense of 
pardoned sin. Satan, sin, and guilt, make us 
really unhappy. See how wretched and mis- 
erable this man was, whilst the evil spirits 
reigned within ; living among tombs, and 
roaming in the mountains, crying and " cut- 
ting himself with stones." There are many 
inward cries of the wicked that are known 
only to God Himself, and very much of their 



68 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

misery is known also to man. Thus, if I 
mistake not, it was Colonel Gardiner, who 
before his conversion, envied even the happi- 
ness of a dog. Then, too, they know not 
what moment they may be cut down, and go 
to the world of despair. The Word of God 
says beautifully of true religion, " Her ways 
are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are 
paths of peace." Strange to tell, also, about 
this man, that when he saw Jesus, " he ran and 
worshiped Him." So you see that even 
devils have to acknowledge Jesus and His 
right to reign over them. Now we do not, of 
course, suppose that it was an act of real heart- 
felt devotion, or had in it anything of love to 
Jesus, for we see that almost immediately 
afterward, he used what we would term hard 
language to the Saviour ; for he said, " What 
have I to do with Thee, Jesus, Thou Son of 
the most high God ?" He feared, as we see, 
the power of Jesus, and well he might. For 



LIFE OF CHRIST. 69 

Christ soon cast these evil spirits, speaking in 
the man, out. Now sin reigning in us, my 
young friends, still makes us fierce and ugly. 
We hear much said about lovely and amiable 
people, who are not Christians, but there is 
very little reliable in all this without the grace 
of God. True, some people, not unlike the 
lower animals, have better tempers and dispo- 
sitions than others. But the evil of sin in the 
heart, unless subdued by the power of God, 
will manifest itself at times in pride, selfish- 
ness, anger, ambition, or something of the 
kind. Thus some of these so-called amiable 
people are very proud, and as long as they can 
get everything they want, may seem very 
amiable, but when they are crossed, and -their 
wishes not gratified, they frequently become 
very angry. They remind me very much of a 
well-fed lion lying in his cage. You would 
scarcely suppose, as you see him lying there, 
perhaps sleeping peacefully, that there was 



yO LIFE OF CHRIST. 

anything very savage or terrific about him, 
but let him be aroused by the presence of 
flesh when hungry, and you then see the sav- 
age beast in all his ferocity. Thus, too, child- 
ren may sometimes, and frequently, be very 
loving and friendly towards each other, but 
let one of them say something or do some- 
thing that provokes the other, and then the 
ugly passion of anger shows itself. Sometimes 
even little brothers and sisters become very 
angry with each other, and it may be, c&ll 
each other hard names. All these should 
remember those beautiful lines on this subject: 

" Birds in their little nests agree, 
And 'tis a painful sight 
When children of one family 
Fall out, and chide, and fight." 

This poor man was, I suppose, a terror to 
the whole neighborhood, to grown people and 
children. So, too, people yet become so 
wicked and sinful by profane swearing, drunk- 



LIFE OF CHRIST. J\ 

enness, etc., as to become a terror to all. I 
suppose there are very few grown people but 
can remember some such person whom they 
feared and shunned when children, and I have 
little doubt that some of you know people of 
this kind, and I do not wonder that you are 
afraid of them, for we cannot say what they 
might do when excited. 

I have also seen boys running after drunken 
men, and crazy people, and making sport of 
them. Now, my young friends, I need not 
tell you that all this is not only generally dan- 
gerous, but very sinful 

It is said of this man also, that he was 
unmanageable, he would even break the chains 
and fetters by which he was bound. So sin 
and Satan still make children and grown peo- 
ple hard to be managed. They disregard the 
kind words and entreaties of their friends and 
parents, and when these friends insist on their 
doing right, they sometimes become very 



72 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

angry, and oppose them, and break through 
all their rules. Now, the right way is for us 
to become Christians when young, and try to 
have our hearts, before sin and Satan have be- 
come so strong in us, renewed and sanctified 
by the grace of God. There is, too, one other 
point to which I desire to call your attention. 
This man, when once these evil spirits were 
cast out, became very much changed, as you 
will see by reading the account. He then 
loved the Saviour, and wanted to be with 
Jesus in the ship. So when we love Jesus, we 
shall desire to be with Him in the Sabbath- 
school, the prayer-meeting, and the regular 
public worship of God. Now I heard quite 
recently of a little girl who was converted, and 
did not want to leave the Church, and when 
asked why, she said, "This place I love so 
much, because here I found Jesus." The 
Saviour told this man that instead of sitting 
with Him in the ship ( although that would be 



LIFE OF CHRIST. 73 

very pleasant), he should " go home to his 
friends, and tell them how great things the 
Lord had done for" him. So, too, the gentle- 
man and Christian who addressed the little 
girl to whom I have referred, asked if her 
father, mother, brothers and sisters loved 
Jesus, and requested her to bring these dear 
friends to the Church, where they, too, might 
hear of the Saviour and His dying love. Now 
there are too many people who seem as though 
they just wanted to enjoy religion themselves, 
and do not have much disposition to. go forth 
and work for Christ; but this, as you know, 
my young friend, and as I have been endeav- 
oring to show you, is not right. We should 
feel, and be ready to say : 

" I'll tell to all poor sinners round 
What a dear Saviour I have found ; 
I'll point to Thy atoning blood, 
And say, Behold the way to God." 

Love to Jesus must be the great prompting 
power in all our endeavors to work for Him. 




CHAPTER IX. 

CHRIST STILLETH THE TEMPEST.— Matthew xiii. 18-27; 
Mark iv. 35-41. 

Golden Text. — Matthew viii. 27 ; " What manner of man 
is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him ?" 

QTORMS are sometimes very terrific, and 
^ calculated to alarm most persons. How- 
ever fearful a storm on land may be, a storm 
on the sea must be much more so, for we 
have nothing between us and the raging sea 
but the vessel in which we are sailing. 

Jesus, after having healed the centurion's 
servant, an account of which we have had, left 
Capernaum, and took a ship or small vessel 
with His disciples, in the evening, for the pur- 
pose of going over to the eastern side. It 
may have been a calm and beautiful evening, 
with, perhaps, a clear sunset, and no indica- 

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LIFE OF CHRIST. 75 

tions of a storm. This sea, although only 
about twenty miles long, and six or eight 
miles wide, was subject to violent squalls. 
It is supposed that the vessel here called a 
ship was a small open boat, such as was com- 
monly used for fishing purposes. Some time 
during the night, after Jesus had fallen asleep 
in the hinder part of the ship, perhaps wearied 
from the labors of the day, there arose a vio- 
lent storm. The ship, it is said, was "covered 
with waves," and the lives of all in it seemed 
in great danger. The disciples became much 
frightened, and came to the Saviour; and hav- 
ing awakened him out of sleep, said, in all the 
earnestness of people realizing their danger, 
"Lord, save us; we perish." The Saviour 
asked them why they were so "fearful," and 
having gently reproved them for their want of 
faith, " arose and rebuked the winds and the 
sea; and there was a great calm." The result 
was, that the men marveled, saying, "What 



?6 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

manner of man is this, that even the winds and 
the sea obey him ?" Now this whole scene, 
my young friends, as you may well suppose, 
must have been one of great grandeur. The 
darkness of the night, the stormy winds, the 
dashing waves, the creaking, tossing ship, con- 
nected with the great alarm of the disciples, 
and the calm action of the Saviour, and mani- 
festation of His power as God over these 
stormy elements, all served to make it such. 

You may be ready to say, Oh! if Jesus 
had been with me in the vessel, I should not 
have been alarmed, no matter how great the 
danger might have seemed to be, because I 
know that He has power over the winds and 
the sea. But stop, and think for a moment. 
Jesus, your Saviour, lives still, and has as 
much power, and loves His people just as 
much as when He was on earth. Well, are 
you never afraid when the angry winds blow, 
and thunders roll, and lightnings flash ? Why 



LIFE OF CHRIST. ?? 

should you be ? Jesus, the Almighty Saviour, 
lives, and reigns, and can take care of you, and 
preserve you, just as well as if He were with 
you in the ship. He is certainly near His 
people. Ah ! but, you say, I have doubts, and 
then fears. Exactly so; thus, too, it was with 
these alarmed disciples ; they had doubts, and 
therefore fears. If they had only reasoned for 
a moment, and sought to* exercise their faith 
in Jesus, as they should have done, they might 
have said in triumph, We cannot perish, for 
Christ is with us in the ship, and He need 
only speak, and the winds and sea will obey 
Him. It is said that Caesar could not endure 
, to see his pilot tremble in a furious tempest at 
sea, because he was in the boat. " How much 
less reason have we to be afraid," as one has 
beautifully written, " who carry in our hearts 
the great emperor of the world." 

Jesus, however, knew the weakness of His 
disciples, their small measure of faith; and in 



LIFE OF CHRIST. 

His love, He arose and rebuked the winds 
and the sea. So, too, He still loves most ten- 
derly all who love Him, and are seeking to 
obey Him. He knows our weakness, our 
dangers, and also the unbelief of our hearts. 
Storms, that is, afflictions, temptations, and 
trials, will come even where Jesus is, for we 
are informed, "whom the Lord loveth, He 
chasteneth ;" but we should not yield to unbe- 
lief and fear, but feel that if we love the 
Saviour sincerely, all is well, and He can pro- 
tect and deliver us. He has permitted these 
storms to come down, too, upon His Church, 
so that sometimes they threaten to destroy 
everything ; and yet He has raised up deliv- 
erers in the persons of Luther and those other 
great reformers, and has delivered His Church 
and preserved His servants. Thus, too, when 
we feel guilty, and our sin is pressing hard 
upon our hearts, and we see nothing but the 
wrath of God, we should, in the exercise of 



LIFE OF CHRIST. 79 

prayer and faith, fly to Jesus as our refuge and 
strength. Remember that we must not neg- 
lect to pray, and pray earnestly, as these disci- 
ples did, and feel as they did that none but 
Jesus can help us. If we do thus, this Saviour 
who still lives, and loves, and cares for us, will 
come to our help, and the same power that 
rebuked the " winds and the sea" for the dis- 
ciples, will calm our fears, and by leading us 
to trust in Him for pardon and salvation, 
bring peace and calmness into our troubled 
hearts. We may say, in the language of that 
beautiful hymn : 

" Courage my soul, for God is near, 
What enemy hast thou to fear ? 
How canst thou want a sure defence 
Whose refuge is omnipotence ? 

i( Though billows after billows roll 
To overwhelm my sinking soul ; 
Firm as a rock my soul shall stand 
Upheld by God's almighty hand," 



CHAPTER X. 

JESUS OPENS THE EYES OF THE BLIND, AND CAUSES 
THE DEAF AND DUMB TO HEAR AND SPEAK.— 

John ix.; Luke xviii. 35-43; Mark ix. 17-29. 

Golden text. — Isaiah xxxv. 5, 6 : " Then the eyes of 
the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be 
unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and 
the tongue of the dumb sing" 

• 

r I A HE afflictions referred to in this chapter 
■*• are, we think, the greatest which human 
beings can suffer in this life. There may not 
be, and there generally is not, much if any 
pain, but they are constant afflictions, cutting 
us off from so much of the real enjoyment of 
this world, and making life dark and lonely. 
If there is a human being that should move 
our hearts, and gain our sympathy, more than 
others, it is, we think, the man, woman, or 
child, who has either been born blind, or 

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LIFE OF CHRIST. 8 1 

has afterwards been deprived of sight. To 
such as have been born blind, ail has ever 
been a scene of constant and abiding darkness 
around them. They have never seen the 
heavens above, which the Psalmist says, " de- 
clare the glory of God," the sun, moon, or 
stars, or beautiful many-colored clouds. Nor 
have they seen the earth on which they tread, 
with its animals, fruits, and flowers. They 
have never seen the smiling faces of their 
friends, nor traced the difference in their 
appearance. I have often asked myself, what 
are the views and feelings of such a person ? 
Have they any conception at all of things 
around them as they are ? Nor is the situa- 
tion of one who has been deprived of sight 
much if any better. I have at^imes thought 
that it was even worse; for they know, and 
can appreciate, the greatness of their loss. 
They had been accustomed to look out upon 

the beautiful heavens, and earth, and behold 
6 



82 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

things created by God in their variety, beauty, 
and grandeur; but now they have been 
deprived of this great privilege. So, too, as 
regards other afflictions, to which reference is 
made, and of which we have an account in this 
scripture. The mute, or deaf and dumb per- 
son, is also much afflicted, and highly deserv- 
ing of our sympathy. Christian kindness or 
charity has, however, done so much for this 
class of persons, and we have seen them so 
contented and cheerful, as to take away much 
of the gloom and affliction of their condition. 

It is true, also, that the Christian charity of 
the present age has done much to lighten the 
affliction of the blind, by teaching them to 
read. I have been considerably in the society 
of educated mutes, and must say, that I have 
found them cheerful and happy. To bring 
this affliction, however, home to ourselves, with 
all the relief that Christianity has afforded, 
who of us would be willing to exchange situa- 



LIFE OF CHRIST. 83 

tions with them? So that it remains true that 
it is even under these favorable circumstances 
a great affliction. 

I need not now tell you that Jesus had a 
tender and sympathizing heart, and that the 
suffering condition of the people led Him to 
exert His power for their deliverance. We 
read, therefore, that He heard the cries of the 
blind, and opened their eyes, and unstopped 
the ears of the deaf, and caused the dumb to 
speak. Oh ! how these afflicted people must 
have loved Him, and hailed His approach 
with joy. I hope, my young friends, that you 
never see persons thus afflicted, but that you 
pity them. Many of them now, especially the 
blind, as in time past, live by begging, and it is 
hard to refuse to give to such persons. You 
should remember, however, that there is 
another kind of blindness, and that we are all 
by nature spiritually blind. We do not see 
God, or His law, or our condition as sinners 



84 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

before Him as we should, and are in danger 
of perishing forever. Now a blind person, if 
he is a Christian, having the light of God's 
spirit in his heart, may still be happy, for he 
enjoys the presence and friendship of his 
Saviour here, and feels that he is going to a 
world where his eyes shall be forever opened 
to behold the rich glories of heaven. So, too, 
the mute may feel th^t there his ears will be 
forever opened to hear the beautiful music 
that shall delight his soul; and his tongue 
forever unloosed to praise his God. How sad 
for us to remain in this state of blindness, and 
when Jesus the Saviour lives and can open 
our eyes, unstop our ears, and cause our 
tongues to sing His praises. Oh ! how many 
of these spiritually blind and mutes are there 
not in the world ! They walk on from day to 
day constantly exposed to the wrath of God, 
and yet realize not their sin and danger. They 
live here and enjoy His mercies, and are fed 
on His rich bounty, and yet do not hear His 



LIFE OF CHRIST. 85 

voice calling them to repentance and to faith 
in this Saviour. Nor do they, with their 
tongues, praise this Saviour, but many, per- 
haps, profane the name of the blessed Jesus. 
Oh ! my yo*ung friends, go to Jesus and ask 
Him, that by His good spirit He would open 
your eyes, unstop your ears, and loose your 
tongues to sing His praise. These people, for 
whom Jesus did these great things, followed 
Him ; so, too, should you, devoting yourselves 
body and soul to His service forever, and say- 
ing in the language of one of old, " O, Lord, I 
will praise Thee ; though Thou wast angry 
with me, Thine anger is turned away, and 
Thou comfortedst me." Our language, too, 
should be after we have been led to this 
Saviour, and our eyes opened to see His love- 
liness : 

« Oh, that all the blind but knew Him, 
And would be advised by me ; 
Surely they would hasten to Him, 
He would cause them all to see.". 



CHAPTER XI. 

THE MIRACLE OF THE LOAVES AND FISHES.— Matthew 
xiv. 15-21 ; Mark vi. 35-44; Luke ix. 12-17; John vi. 1-21. 

Golden Text — Matthew xiv. 16. But Jesus said unto 
them, " Z#^/ /z<?^ «<tf depart ; give ye them' to eat." 

'THHIS kind miracle of our Lord is recorded, 
as you see, by all the evangelists. A large 
number of people had followed Jesus into a 
desert, or lonely place, and had continued with 
Him until the shades of evening were drawing 
nigh. Human nature is weak, and subject in 
this life to many wants. We cannot be very 
long engaged even in the service of religion, 
however much we may be interested and de- 
lighted, without needing food and rest. The 
people began to show signs of weariness and 
hunger, and, as the evening was approaching, 
the disciples advised the Saviour to send the 

multitude away, so that they might go into 

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LIFE OF CHRIST. 87 

the neighboring villages, and obtain food. 
Jesus, however, replied, "They need not de- 
part; give ye them to eat." 

When they came to examine how much food 
they had, they found that no one in the com- 
pany had anything, but one lad, who had " five 
barley loaves and two fishes." This quantity 
of food was amazingly small, with which to be- 
gin even, to feed such a large number of peo- 
ple; but Jesus commanded them to sit down 
upon the grass, orderly, in companies. He 
then took the five loaves and two fishes, " and 
looking up to heaven, blessed, and brake, and 
gave the loaves to His disciples, and the dis- 
ciples to the multitude." 

We are informed that " they all did eat and 
were filled, and they took up of the fragments 
that remained twelve baskets full. And they 
that did eat were about five thousand men, 
beside women and children." Jesus was too 
kind and compassionate to send these hungry 



88 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

people away as the disciples advised, and true 
religion leads us to care for the bodily wants 
of people as well as for those higher wants of 
the soul. It does not speak well for us in 
matters of religion when we manifest great zeal 
for the salvation of people, and sending the 
word of life to the nations in darkness, when 
we can send the hungry from our doors. Now, 
there was beautiful harmony in the Saviour's 
teaching and practice, as there should be in 
our profession and lives. He taught us to be 
merciful, and he himself showed mercy, and 
although He is now no longer with us on earth, 
he knows all our wants, and feels for us. It 
must have been a beautiful sight to have seen 
this multitude of people sitting down on the 
grass in a quiet and reverent manner. And 
then to see the Saviour, whose countenance 
was ever beaming with love, take the five 
loaves and the fishes, and looking up to heaven, 
ask the blessing of God upon the food. 



i 



LIFE OF CHRIST. 89 

Methinks the hungry multitude must have 
watched Him most eagerly, and have asked 
themselves, Oh ! how can we all be satisfied 
from this scanty supply? It would not seem 
as though the miracle was finished at once, as 
in some other cases ; but after the food was 
blessed, Jesus brake, we are informed, and gave 
to the disciples, and the disciples to the multi- 
tude. The bread then, as you see, multiplied 
in the hands of the disciples, so that it not only 
did not give out, but much remained over after 
all the people had been fully satisfied. You 
will see, too, that this miracle required some 
faith in the disciples, for they might each have 
said, My share of the five loaves and two fishes 
will certainly give out before I get around; but 
we hear of nothing of this kind : they were en- 
abled to go on and feed, and feed, until all 
were fed. 

Now this way of supplying the wants of the 
people was just as good, and the miracle just 



90 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

as great, as if Jesus had at once, by the word 
of His power, converted these few loaves and 
fish into a large quantity. God, my friends, 
has His own way of doing things : 

"It may not be my way, 
It may not be thy way." 

It need not, and will not, in many cases, be 
our way, for our way is often not the best way. 

This miracle teaches us that Jesus our 
Saviour, sympathizes with us in our weakness, 
and wants, and can supply all the wants of 
His people, and of His Church. The Church 
may sometimes think, Oh ! we have so little 
wherewith to do the work of the Master ! and 
be afraid to go forward in His work. Why if 
all the means were furnished us at once, there 
would be no need for the exercise of faith and 
activity, and, therefore, we must go forward 
using what the Divine Master has put into our 
hands, and believing that as the want arises, or 
increases, so too will the supply. It teaches 



LIFE OF CHRIST. 9 1 

us, also, that we should never partake of a 
meal without first asking the blessing of God 
upon the food. He deserves this at our hands, 
and it is equivalent to thanking a friend. God, 
alone, too, can really make the food we eat do 
us good. Now how many people there are in 
the world, and in Christian lands, who never 
ask the blessing of God upon their food, or 
thank Him for the much they receive. Such 
people, my young friends, are more ungrateful 
than some of the lower animals, for did you 
never notice how pleased the dog looks at 
you, and how he wags his tail when you feed 
him? I think you will all agree with me, that 
this is verv wrong and sinful. This miracle 
teaches us again that we should not be waste- 
ful, or .extravagant. I have seen children who 
have plenty, wasting bread, when little hungry 
ones, not far off, would have been so glad for 
it. This waste is by no means confined to 
children, or young people, however; for many 



92 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

grown people are very wasteful and extrava- 
gant in their way of living, spending so much 
on dress, and that which is unnecessary, as 
tobacco, w T hich not only does not do them any 
good, but is even injurious. Now we should 
ever remember that Jesus, after He had fed 
the multitude, commanded them to gather up 
the fragments that remained over. Christianity 
teaches neither to be miserly nor wasteful, but 
to use all in moderation, to supply our wants, 
and in all things to seek to glorify God. 




CHAPTER XII. 

CHRIST RAISETH THE DEAD.— Luke vii. 11-15; Matthew ix. 
18-25 ; John xi. 

Golden Text. — Matthew xi. 4-5 : " Jesus answered and 
said unto them, Go and show John again those things which 
ye do hear and see. The blind receive their sight, and the 
lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the 
dead are raised up, and the poor have the Gospel preached to 
them." 

TT7HAT a wonderful excitement it would 
cause among the people to learn that 
some one with whom they had been ac- 
quainted, and had been dead, was restored to 
life. Persons have seemed to be dead, when 
they were not, as in case of trance or drown- 
ing ; but if it were known that a friend had 
been really and truly dead, and that he had 
been restored to life, the excitement would 

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94 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

become general and intense. Raising the 
dead must, we suppose, be regarded as the 
greatest work of Jesus when on earth. This 
is at once, and entirely beyond the power, we 
mean the natural unaided power, of man. God 
has enabled men to do this, as well as other 
great works, as was the case with Elisha in 
restoring to life the son of the Shunamitish 
woman, and Paul, in restoring to life Eutychus. 
The three instances, to which I called your 
attention, are somewhat different. The first is 
that of the widow's son. She and her only 
son lived in a town called Nain. As the 
Saviour approached this town, he met a 
funeral procession coming out of the gate. 
Funeral processions have nearly always some- 
thing sad connected with them. We know 
that some one has lost a dear friend, and 
that some heart is wounded by the stroke ; 
then, too, our minds naturally inquire in 
reference to the eternal future of these per- 



LIFE OF CHRIST. 95 

sons. We are also impressed with the idea 
that we too are dying creatures, and that 
sooner or later our bodies must also be car- 
ried to the grave. This was, however, in 
particular a sad funeral. The mother of the 
dead man was a widow, and this was her 
only son, the comfort and stay of her life, 
and now she feels that she is following to the 
'silent tomb her almost all, so far as this world 
is concerned. Oh, how sad she must have felt ! 
and if she had not the comforting power of 
religion to sustain her, must have felt entirely 
disconsolate. Jesus, the life-giving Saviour, 
was, however, near, His heart was moved with 
compassion for the distressed mother. He 
touched " the bier : and they that bare him 
stood still. And He said, Young man, I say 
unto thee, Arise. And he that was dead sat 
up and began to speak. And He delivered him 
to his mother." It will be impossible for us 
to calculate what the joy of this bereaved 



96 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

mother must have been. Now the many who 
were following him to the grave can disperse 
and go to their homes, and the young man 
could return to his home, still to comfort his 
dear mother. This, too, must have been the 
subject of general conversation in the homes 
and on the street of Nain that night, and per- 
haps for many days after it occurred. 

The second instance to which we call your 
attention, is that of the daughter of Jairus, a 
ruler of the synagogue. We have a more par- 
ticular account given us of the illness, death, 
and restoration to life of this little girl by the 
Evangelist Mark, in chapter v., 23-43, of his 
gospel. We there learn, that after the father 
had come to the Saviour, telling Him of her 
great illness, and imploring His help, certain 
others followed, and brought the sad and dis- 
couraging news that she was dead, and told 
the father that as she was dead, he need not 
trouble the Master. We also learn her age — 



LIFE OF CHRIST. 97 

she was about twelve years old. Jesus, how- 
ever, went with the distressed father to his 
home, and told him not to be afraid, only to 
believe. When they reached the home, they 
found people there making a great ado. Jesus 
told them that the damsel was not dead, but 
was sleeping. "And they laughed Him to 
scorn ;" but having put them all out, save the 
mother and father, and Peter, James, and 
John, He took the little girl by the hand, and 
told her to arise, and we are informed that 
" straightway the damsel arose and walked." 
Now you may well suppose, that the heart of 
the father of this little girl was made very 
glad, when he saw her restored to life. He 
was not sorry that he had gone after Jesus, 
and brought Him to his house. 

The third instance which we notice, is 

that of raising Lazarus, a dear friend of Jesus. 

Lazarus and his two sisters, Martha and Mary, 

lived in a quiet little village called Bethany, 

7 



98 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

about two miles from Jerusalem, on the south- 
eastern slope of the Mount of Olives. This 
pious family frequently received the visits of 
Christ, and He loved them very much. Jesus 
did not seem to enjoy much the friendship ol 
the rich and great. His own humble, loving 
spirit, led Him to seek the society of lowly, 
pious souls. This brother, and these two sis- 
ters, not only loved Jesus, but loved each 
other very much. Since the death of the par- 
ents, the affections of the sisters had very 
closely and tenderly entwined around their 
dear brother. They doubtless looked up to 
him, under God, as their supporter and 
defender. Here in this pretty retired village, 
they lived contentedly. What a beautiful 
sight it is, when brothers and sisters love each 
other, and can live together in peace, espe- 
cially when all are the friends of Jesus. The 
Saviour, as we have stated, seems frequently 
to have visited them, and to have enjoyed 



LIFE OF CHRIST. 99 

their society very much. You remember, as 
intimate friends, how Martha complained to 
Jesus, on one occasion, that Mary did not 
assist her in getting up a meal, as she thought 
she should have done. Jesus, however, show- 
ing His regard for spiritual things above 
earthly, said reprovingly to her: "Martha, 
Martha, thou art careful . and troubled about 
many things ; but one thing is needful, and 
Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall 
not be taken away from her." 

Death, the cruel monster, enters every- 
where, and none elude his chilling grasp. He 
enters the residences of the righteous and of 
the wicked, of the rich, and of the poor. He 
came also here to this loved family in Bethany, 
and took from these fond sisters their loving 
brother. Jesus was not there during his illness 
and death. They sent word to the Saviour of 
the illness of His friend, but He did not get 
there until after the burial, and four days after 



IOO LIFE OF CHRIST. 

his death. He found these sisters in deep dis- 
tress on account of the death of their brother. 
Mary told Jesus if He had been there, her 
brother had not died. He said, " Where have 
ye laid him ?" They say unto Him, " Lord, 
come and see." "Jesus wept." "It was a 
cave, and a stone lay upon it." He told them 
to take away the stone, and then, having 
looked up to God, the Father, in a short and 
touching prayer, cried with a loud voice, 
"Lazarus, come forth." The dead man imme- 
diately obeyed the voice of Christ, and "came 
forth bound hand and foot with grave clothes, 
and his face was bound about with a napkin. 
Jesus saith unto them, loose him, and let him 
go." Who can imagine the joy and gratitude 
of these sisters to Christ for what He did for 
them. In this instance of raising the dead, 
you see, my young friends, most beautifully 
united the God and man in Jesus. It was 
necessary that He should be. both ; man, to 



LIFE OF CHRIST. 10 1 

feel for us, and share our sorrows. "Jesus 
wept." God, to atone for sin, and do what 
man could not. " Lazarus, come forth." You 
will notice in this narrative, too, how beauti- 
fully Jesus speaks of the death of Lazarus, as 
if he were only asleep, and so some understood 
Him at first, and said, " Lord, if he sleep, he 
shall do well." Jesus spoke thus of his death, 
because he was a good man, and the Bible 
speaks thus of the death of the righteous : 
"They sleep in Jesus, and are blest. How 
kind those slumbers are." Oh! who would 
not want to be a Christian in a dying hour? 
But we should not put the matter off of seek- 
ing Jesus, until we are sick or about to die. 
We do not certainly know that we ever shall 
be sick, but may be called away very suddenly, 
as many have been. Moreover, we should 
seek to be the friends of Jesus, for the peace 
and comfort which it affords in this life, and 
so that we may work for Him who has done 



102 



LIFE OF CHRIST. 



so much for us. Like as Lazarus was called 
from his grave' by the voice of the Son of God, 
so, too, shall we, and all our friends who have 
died, hear at the resurrection day this voice 
calling us and them to arise and come forth, 
either (according to what we have been) to the 
resurrection of life, or to that of damnation. 
Oh ! that we all might so live, and so die, as 
to come forth from our graves in the image of 
our Divine Master, to the resurrection of life ! 




CHAPTER XIII. 

THE TRANSFIGURATION OF CHRIST.— Matthew xvii. 1-13. 

Golden Text. — Matthew xvii. 2 : " And His face did 
shine as the sun, and His raiment was white as the light." 

/CHILDREN, we now come to a mostwon- 
^■^ derful and exceedingly grand scene in the 
life of Jesus. I have always felt somewhat 
timid when I have undertaken to preach, as I 
have done a few times, on this very sublime 
subject. I have always felt, in attempting to 
speak upon this subject to others, that it was 
a matter of great depth, sacredness, and 
grandeur. It has always seemed very much 
to me like the time when God called to Moses 
out of the burning bush, and said to him when 
he was ready to turn aside and see why the 
burning bush was not consumed : " Draw not 
hither; put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for 

(103) 



104 LIFE 0F CHRIST. 

the place whereon thou standest is holy 
ground." The scene itself seems somewhat 
like unto the* experience of Moses, although 
far grander, when, after he had been forty days 
and forty nights with the Lord in the moun- 
tain. It is said, you remember, that when he 
came down out of the mountain from the 
Lord, that " the skin of his face shone." And 
it is said that when Aaron and the children of 
Israel saw this, " they were afraid to come 
nigh him." You may recollect, too, that in 
order that the children of Israel might speak 
with him, Moses put a vail on his face, that 
the brightness of his countenance might not 
terrify them. 

Moses, too, as you see, was one of the per- 
sons who appeared with Jesus at the time of 
His transfiguration. Moses and Elijah, who 
had, as you know, passed into the other world 
many hundreds of years before, came down 
from their heavenly home, and conversed with 
Christ on this wonderful occasion. 



LIFE OF CHRIST. IO5 

Jesus had also taken with Him Peter, James, 
and John. These three disciples were gener- 
ally with Christ when anything wonderful was 
to take place. It is said, as regards the ap- 
pearance of the Saviour, in coming as near to 
the* description as human language can, that 
" His face did shine as the sun, and His 
raiment was white as the light." You have 
some idea of the brightness of the sun, and 
how it dazzles the human eye to attempt to 
look at this great light which God has placed 
in the heavens. 

You see, too, how much pleased Peter was 
with the scene, and saith, " Lord, it is good 
for us to be here," but he was so much 
pleased as to propose that they should spend 
some time there, and build " three taberna- 
cles," one for Jesus, "one for Moses, and one 
for Elias." Now this would undoubtedly have 
been a scene of terror to wicked, unconverted 
people, as they always fear anything of this 



106 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

kind very much; but you see that at this 
stage at least, Peter must have enjoyed it 
much. But now, while Peter was speaking, 
behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, 
and behold a voice out of the cloud, which 
said, "This is My beloved Son in whom I am 
well pleased; hear ye Him." This was more 
than even the disciples could endure, and 
"they fell on their faces, and were sore afraid." 
"And Jesus came and touched them, and said, 
Arise, and be not afraid. And when they had 
lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save 
Jesus only." Now, I suppose, that when this 
bright cloud overshadowed them, was the time 
when Moses and Elijah returned again to their 
heavenly home, for after that, as you learn, 
"they saw no man, save Jesus only." Oh, 
what a scene was this, my friends ! so great, 
that in its highest degree of heavenly gran- 
deur, these beloved disciples of Jesus, who 
first enjoyed it, "fell on their faces, and were 



LIFE OF CHRIST. IO7 

sore afraid." The heavenly voice that came 
out of the cloud testified at His baptism that 
Jesus was truly the "Son of God." Now 
learned men, who have written on this grand 
subject, tell us that the chief object of this 
transfiguration, or changed appearance of 
Christ, for this is what that big word means, 
was to give those disciples, who were with 
Jesus at the time in the mountain, the clearest, 
and most satisfactory evidence, that Christ was 
really and truly what He professed to be, the 
Son of God, and thus remove every lingering 
shadow of doubt, if there were any, from their 
minds. I do not suppose, however, that this 
was by any means the only object. I think 
another object was to strengthen and qualify 
the Lord Jesus Himself, for His time of suf- 
fering and death which was now approaching ; 
to assure Him that God the Father was 
pleased with His work, and thus, by this 
heavenly manifestation, and personal sympa- 



108 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

thy of Moses and Elijah, two most eminent 
servants of God, to fortify the mind of Jesus 
for His severe agony in the garden, and on the 
cross. We must never forget that Christ had 
two natures — the one human, the other divine 
— and that it was necessary that these two 
natures should be united in Him to make Him 
a perfect Redeemer. Now His human nature, 
sins excepted, was very much like unto our 
own. It hungered and thirsted, became weary, 
and needed rest, etc. It also, undoubtedly, 
too, as was seen in the garden, shrank back 
from suffering and dreaded pain, therefore 
prayed the Saviour, " My Father, if it be pos- 
sible, let this cup pass from me." Now this 
scene of heavenly grandeur must have tended 
greatly to prepare and strengthen Jesus for 
His time of suffering, and was, we suppose, so 
intended. 

The Evangelist Luke, tells us expressly, in 
relating this scene in chapter ix. 31, that Moses 



LIFE OF. CHRIST. IO9 

and Elijah spake with Jesus "of His decease 
which He should accomplish at Jerusalem." 
This world, my young friends, is a scene of 
lights and shadows, of brightness and dark- 
ness, of joy and sorrow, of prosperity and ad- 
versity, and there is nothing abiding. The 
life, even of the most eminent Christian, has* 
in it generally darkness and sorrow, as well as 
brightness and joy. I do not suppose that it 
would be best for us always to be in scenes of 
joy and brightness, resembling the transfigura- 
tion, lest we should become vain and forget 
God. You may remember, that even after 
Paul had been "caught up into the third 
heavens," and came down again to earth, it 
was necessary for him to have the "thorn in 
the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet him." 
So, too, we cannot expect our highest and 
greatest enjoyment in religion always to last 
in this world. I suppose if you really love the 
Lord Jesus as you should, you have some- 



110 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

times felt, during preaching, or in Sabbath- 
school, with Peter, " Lord it is good for us to 
be here/' and perhaps you felt, too, with Peter, 
like remaining, but you could not ; the hours 
of the Sabbath were passing around, and, per- 
haps, the Master called you to see a sick 
•friend, or engage in some other necessary 
work for Him. 

We are informed in God's Word, however, 
that at the resurrection, our bodies will be 
fashioned like unto the glorious body of Jesus 
Himself. We shall all then see Him, too, in 
glorious majesty, "for every eye shall see 
Him," and those who have loved and served 
Him here, will be permitted to dwell with 
Him, and Moses, and Elijah, and all the other 
servants of God, not only for a short time in 
glory, as on the mount of transfiguration, but 
forever and ever. Who would not be a disciple 
of Christ with such glory in view ? 



CHAPTER XIV. 

CHRIST BLESSES LITTLE CHILDREN.— Matthew xix. 13-15; 
Mark x. 13-16. 

Golden Text. — " But Jesus said, Suffer little children, 
and forbid them not, to come unto me, for of such is the 
king do ?7i of heaven." 

HHHE love of Jesus, as you know, extended 
A to all classes and ages of persons. He 
was Himself once a little child, in all its weak- 
ness and helplessness, and it did seem very 
wonderful to the Jews,, that Christ should thus 
take upon Himself our nature in its weakest 
and most helpless form, but so He did. I 
suppose He did this that we might see the 
depth of His humiliation, and that He might, 
in His human nature, be fully united to us in 
all our weakness, sin only excepted. If this 

had not been so, some one in after days might 

(in) 



112 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

have said, O, yes ! but Jesus never was a little 
child. The parents, of whom we have read, 
whether Christians or not, themselves, cer- 
tainly had some faith in Christ, and had also a 
desire that their little ones might receive His 
blessing. They had, doubtless, heard how He 
opened the eyes of the blind, caused the deaf 
to he£r, the dumb to speak, the lame to walk ; 
how, by His word, He healed the sick, 
cleansed the lepers, and raised the dead ; and 
now they felt, if He would only bless their 
children, it would do them much good. It 
may be, that their ideas of a blessing did not 
rise much above worldly good. This is not 
for us to say, but, surely, in any sense, we 
must think well of their action. It is here 
said, "that He might put His hands on them 
and pray." The disciples were not pleased 
with the action of these parents, and even went 
so far as to reprove them. It seems to me, 
that their idea was : the people are imposing 



LIFE OF CHRIST. 113 

on the Master: they not only bring their 
sick, or come after Him on this account ; the 
blind, the lame, and the lepers, not only 
throng Him, and cry out after Him; persons 
desire, not only that even their dead be turned 
to life; but now these weak parents, as though 
the Master had not enough to do otherwise, 
and of a more urgent character, come after 
Him with their little children. This is too 
bad, for it seems as though the Master was to 
have no rest. They may also have thought 
these little ones can understand nothing of 
His teaching, and what good can it do. It 
may be, too, that they had no children of their 
own, and could not, therefore, understand the 
feelings of these fond parents. 

The Evangelist Mark informs us, that when 
Jesus saw the conduct of these disciples, 
"He was much displeased" and said, "Suffer 
the little children to come unto me, and forbid 
them not, for of such is the kingdom of God." 
8 



114 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

He also added, " Verily, I say unto you, who- 
soever shall not receive the kingdom of God 
as a little child, he shall not enter therein." 
Mark also tells us, that Jesus " took them up 
in His arms, put His hands upon them, and 
blessed them." Now you see, my young 
friends, how differently Jesus viewed the con- 
duct of these parents, to that taken by the dis- 
ciples. The disciples may have intended it all 
for good, and have done what they did out of 
pure love to the Saviour, but still it was wrong. 
Jesus came to bless the world, and do it good, 
and He came especially to bless those who 
feel that they need and desire His blessing. 
He seemed to understand fully, and at once, 
the actions and desire of these parents. He 
knew that their children were born in sin, that 
is, with hearts inclined, through the fall, to 
evil. He knew that they were in a world of 
sin, and would be surrounded by evil and dan- 
ger on all sides. He realized, too, far more 



LIFE OF CHRIST. 1 1 5 

than the parents of these children, how much 
good His blessing might do them, in all time 
to come. He honored, too, the faith and affec- 
tion of these parents, which prompted them to 
bring their little ones to Him. Now I do not 
wonder that Jesus did just as He did, and 
called the children to Himself. He might, 
too, have said to these erring disciples, I am 
come into the world to bless and draw hu- 
manity to myself, and now, when parents 
desire to bring their children, you will not 
permit them. Now there are a good many 
parents in the world, who are not serving God 
themselves, or doing much good, who seem 
still to have some desire that their children 
should do better, and consequently they send 
them to the Sabbath-school, that they may 
there hear of Jesus, and be instructed by their 
teachers in the matters of religion. All this is 
right, and good, and commendable in itself. 
There are, however, some parents so wicked, 



Il6 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

that they would rather hinder, than bring their 
little ones to the Sabbath-school, or to Jesus. 
This, you know, is very wicked, and if this 
book should fall into the hands of any such 
child, I would say, pray earnestly to God, that 
He would change the hearts of your parents, 
and cause them to love Jesus. He can and 
will hear your prayers just as well and 
readily as those of grown people, if you pray 
as you should. You, children, should seek to 
come unto Jesus in your young days, and 
although you have no parents to bring you, 
hearken to the kind words of your teachers, 
and seek to come to Jesus, and obtain, by 
repentance and faith, His blessing. It may be, 
too, that this book will fall into the hands of 
some children, whose kind parents God has 
taken to the heavenly world, and, therefore, 
they are not here to bring you to Jesus. But, 
surely, my young friends, if you feel that your 
dear parents, or even one of those parents, is 



LIFE OF CHRIST. 11/ 

in the paradise of God above, you should 
desire to go there, too. Oh, how important it 
is, that you come to Jesus whilst young ! that 
is, that by faith, you love Him, and seek to 
serve Him. Some persons may think that 
you are too young to become Christians, and 
understand about Jesus. You know that you 
have done wrong, and if you feel truly sorry 
for the wrong, or sin, and will, by simple faith, 
look unto Jesus as your Saviour, you may, 
and will have a sense of pardon, and that is 
what is required of all of us. You know that 
Jesus, in explaining this, said, in John iii., 
" And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the 
wilderness, even so must the Son of man be 
lifted up, that whosoever believeth in Him 
should not perish, but have eternal life." Now 
you know, or should know, that Christ here 
referred to something that the Israelites expe- 
rienced in the wilderness. Owing to their 
disobedience, God sent amongst this people, as 



Il8 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

a punishment, fiery, flying serpents, whose 
bite was very poisonous. Many people died 
and they became alarmed, confessed their sin, 
and begged Moses to go to God, and pray 
unto Him, that He would take the serpents 
from them. This Moses did, and the Lord 
provided a strange remedy for them, "and 
said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, 
and set it upon a pole : and it shall come to 
pass, that every one that is bitten, when he 
looketh upon it, shall live. And Moses made 
a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole ; and 
it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any 
man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he 
lived." The poor, bitten, suffering person, 
might be very ill, and ready to die ; but, if from 
any part of the camp he could only look at 
this brazen serpent, he was cured, and cured, I 
suppose, immediately. But remember he 
must look at it, if he would live, and the very 
look showed his faith in God's appointment. 



LIFE OF CHRIST. II9 

So, too, we are sinners, and in danger of per- 
ishing eternally. God has provided a Saviour, 
but, in order to be pardoned and saved, we 
must, by faith, look unto Him. One simple, 
single act of real faith in Jesus is sufficient to 
save the soul, and bring us pardon of all our 
sins. How important that you should come 
whilst young, and your hearts are yet tender 
to the Saviour. You now are free too from 
care, your parents see that you have food, and 
clothing, and even education, and you have 
not much to trouble you. Remember, God's 
Word says of religion, or piety: " Her ways 
are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are 
paths of peace." If you begin thus early, and 
strive to be faithful, your piety will increase, 
and strengthen with your years, and at last 
your peace shall flow as a river. It may be, 
too, that you have pious parents or friends, 
who are very anxious that you should become 
Christians, and pray much for you. Your 



120 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

kind teachers in the Sabbath-school, too, desire 
this earnestly. Remember, too, how early lit- 
tle Samuel became pious, and how God blessed 
him, and that it is said of Timothy, Paul's be- 
loved young friend, that "from a child, he had 
known the Scriptures. " Remember, too, from 
how much evil you will be saved by becoming 
pious when young. "It saves us from a 
thousand snares, to mind religion young." 




CHAPTER XV. 

THE CALLING OF ZACCHiEUS.— Luke xix. i-io. 

Golden Text. — Luke xix. 10; " For the Son of man is 
come to seek and to save that which was lost.'''' 

TT7HAT a stir there is in ancient Jericho ! 
How the people move to and fro in a 
hurried manner, whilst an expression of great 
curiosity is seen in their faces. What can it 
all mean ? Oh, they say that Jesus of Naza- 
reth is approaching the city ! See, now, the 
vast crowd that is thronging its streets as 
Christ enters ! Among the excited mass of 
persons, all eager to see Jesus, there is one 
man whose anxiety is most marked and earn- 
est. He is a small man, but outruns all the 
rest. As you watch him, you see him not 
only going ahead of the crowd, but climbing 

( 121) 



122 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

up into a tree, a sycamore tree. He has de- 
termined to take this way to be sure of seeing 
Jesus as He passes by. He has now climbed 
up into the tree, and is seated among its 
branches and leaves, and doubtless thinks, here 
I will have a good chance of seeing Him, with- 
out being noticed. How often, however, we 
are disappointed in our calculations, and how 
strange are the ways of God. The very per- 
son who does attract the notice of Jesus, the 
Omniscient Saviour, is this little man in the 
tree. Jesus calls to him, and tells him to 
come down, for He says, "today I must 
abide at thy house." Zacchaeus "made haste, 
and came down, and received Him joyfully." 
The people murmured at this, and said, " that 
He was gone to be guest with a man who is a 
sinner." He belonged to a class of men who 
were by no means popular. He was chief 
among the publicans, or tax-gatherers. These 
collectors of taxes have never been very popu- 



LIFE OF CHRIST. 1 23 

lar, either in ancient, or in modern times. 
Doubtless, some of them were unjust and 
oppressive, then, as now, and yet we can all 
see that there must be such a class of persons. 
This man was also " rich," and we see from 
this narrative, that where the heart is right, 
wealth will not prevent us from receiving 
Christ as our Saviour, and from becoming His 
followers, although few of such seem to obey 
His call, and come. Why it was that Jesus 
noticed particularly this man, and called him, 
and spoke to him as He did, we may not, in 
all respects, know. One thing I think, how- 
ever, we must regard as certain, that Christ, 
by His omniscient eye, saw something in this 
man, that He did not find in the rest. Zac- 
chaeus may, at first, have only gone with the 
crowd out of curiosity. It may be, that the 
first feelings of penitence that he had, were 
when he first saw Jesus. The countenance 
and humble manner of Christ may have con- 



124 LIFE 0F CHRIST. 

vinced him that Jesus was what He professed 
to be, the Saviour of the world. I cannot, for 
a moment, suppose that Christ would have so 
noticed and selected this man, had it not been 
that He saw that he, by penitence, was pre- 
pared, more than the rest, to receive Him. 
Here, my young friends, you see a great 
truth, and why it is that some persons become 
disciples of Jesus, and others do not. The 
reason simply is, that our hearts, by penitence, 
and faith, must be made willing to receive this 
Saviour, before He will enter in. Thus, the 
Divine Master says in the book of Revelation, 
iii. 20, " Behold I stand at the door and knock; 
if any man hear My voice, and open the door, 
I will come in to him, and will sup with him, 
and he with Me." 

This man may have been a bad man, unjust 
in his dealings, and he does not entirely deny 
it; but Jesus saw, as his after conduct also 
proved, that there was a change in him. Now 



LIFE OF CHRIST. 125 

I suppose if Christ had gone to stop with some 
of the showy, haughty Pharisees, nothing 
would have been said. But these poor, blinded 
people, not unlike many nowadays, did not 
know and see what Jesus knew and saw. He 
sees way down into the inmost recesses of the 
heart, and knows exactly what is in man. He 
saw and knew Peter's weakness in the matter 
of denying Him, and forewarned him of it. 

Now we do not know that any others in the 
great crowd that thronged Christ that day in 
Jericho, received Him as their Saviour, with 
penitent and believing hearts, save this one 
man up in a tree. Why is it that now among 
the large number of children and grown people 
that hear of Jesus and see His wonderful works 
in the conversion of others, so few of either class 
really come to Him, or become in truth His dis- 
ciples ? The reason is that they love the things 
of this world too much, and are unwilling by 
repentance and faith to receive Christ as their 



126 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

Saviour. Many persons, too, deceive them- 
selves, and really think they are anxious and 
willing to come to Jesus, when they really are 
not. Alas ! Alas ! how our deceitful hearts 
can and do impose on us ! You see, too, that 
it is not, by any means, such as we would re- 
gard the most amiable and moral, that come 
most readily to Christ. On the contrary, these 
people are blinded by their own supposed 
goodness and merit, so that they do not feel 
their need of this Saviour, and, according to his 
own declaration, "they that be whole need 
not a physician, but they that are sick." You 
see, too, how many of the most wicked people 
have heard the call of Jesus and come to him. 
Such were John Bunyan, John Newton and 
John Williams, all of whom became eminent 
ministers of the Gospel. In the language of 
that old and beautiful Gospel hymn : 

" All the fitness He requireth 
Is to feel your need of Him." 






LIFE OF CHRIST. \2J 

You see, too, the genuineness of this man's 
repentance. He said to Jesus, " Lord, the half 
of my goods I give to the poor, and if I have 
taken anything from any man by false accusa- 
tion I restore him fourfold." The Saviour said, 
" This day is salvation come to this house." 
Now I hope, my young friends, that you will 
all be as anxious to hear of the wonder-working 
Jesus as was Zacchaeus to see him; that you 
will listen earnestly to what your kind teachers 
have to tell you about this lovely, loving Sav- 
iour; that you will heed His calls to come unto 
Him, and seek to have your hearts made will- 
ing and opened by God's Spirit to receive this 
Saviour. If you are entirely willing and ready 
to receive Him, as this man was, He will be will- 
ing to enter and set up His kingdom there, and 
that will be the happiest day or hour of your 
life. The Lord help you to do so immediately. 
To-morrow may be too late. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

CHRIST ANOINTED BY MARY.— Matthew xxvi. 6-13; John 

xii. 1-9. 

Golden Text. — Matthew xxvi. 10 : " When yesus un- 
derstood it, He said ttnto them, Why trouble ye the woman ? 
for she hath wrought a good work upon Afe." 

AT O WONDER that Mary loved Jesus much, 
^ ^ and sought to show her love and grati- 
tude to him (see John xii. 3,) for what He had 
done for her. She could never forget the kind- 
ness of Jesus to her and her sister Martha in 
raising their beloved brother Lazarus from the 
dead and restoring him to them. It was a dark 
and tearful hour when Jesus came on that oc- 
casion to their home, and stood with them in 
loving sympathy at their brother's grave. But 
what a streaming of light there was from the 
darkened sky when Jesus, in tones of God 

(128) 



LIFE OF CHRIST. 1 29 

called him from his tomb. Oh, how the scene 
of the risen and restored brother must have 
thrilled her inmost soul ! No change in time, 
place or circumstances could remove this from 
her mind. It was all owing to Jesus, and well 
she knew it, that their brother^ was raised from 
the dead and restored to them. Her gratitude 
and love to Christ was doubtless increased in 
after days,. weeks and months, as she enjoyed ; 
perhaps more than ever, the society and friend- 
ship of that brother. She doubtless sought an 
occasion to show her gratitude to the Saviour 
and now it presented itself. Jesus has come to 
Bethany, and is entertained by Simon, the leper. 
Lazarus is also an invited guest, and is sitting 
with Jesus at the table. Martha, as usual, un- 
derstanding domestic affairs so well, serves the 
table in the house of their friend, as at her own 
home. This family, the brother and the two 
sisters, all intimate friends, we suppose, and 
Jesus were part at least of the guests on this 
9 



130 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

occasion. As they sat at meat Mary came 
unto Him, " having an alabaster box of very 
precious ointment, and poured it on his head." 
John says on "the feet of Jesus, and wiped his 
feet with her hair." Now we suppose it was 
poured both on the head and feet of Jesus ; 
one Evangelist relating one part, and the other 
the other, and there is therefore no contradic- 
tion. It could be very easily poured upon the 
feet, as you will remember that they did not sit 
at the table as we do, but reclined on couches. 
This ointment was very valuable, and is sup- 
posed to have been Nard, and, having been a 
pound, cost, according to the account in our 
money, forty dollars. 

Judas, especially, found great fault with 
Mary for having done this, and said, " Why 
was not this ointment sold for three hundred 
pence, and given to the poor?" But the 
Evangelist John, adds, " This he said, not that 
he cared for the poor, but because he was a 



LIFE OF CHRIST. 131 

thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put 
therein. " Jesus said, " Let her alone ; against 
the day of my burying hath she kept this," 
and added, " for the poor always ye have with 
you ; but Me ye have not always/' Judas, the 
base-hearted fellow and traitor, wanted to show 
a very benevolent spirit, on this occasion, in 
his deep concern for the poor. He begrudged 
this kindness of Mary to her Divine Master. 
It is true, it was a great and costly act on the^ 
part of Mary, and it does not seem that she 
was poor, or she could scarcely have done it 
Who will dare to say, however, that Jesus was 
not deserving, at the hands of Mary, of the 
greatest and most costly token of her grati- 
tude. If she had only taken common oint- 
ment, or that which cost little, it would, by no 
means, have evinced, provided she could do 
better, her love and gratitude in the manner in 
which this did. She doubtless felt that noth- 
ing was too good or costly by which to show 
her love to Jesus. 



132 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

Now, my young friends, the Lord Jesus, as 
you know, has done a most wonderful thing 
for us, and made a much more costly sacrifice 
for us, by giving His life, than Mary did for 
Him. How do we seek to show our gratitude 
to Him ? Do we love Him supremely ? No ; 
unless our hearts have been changed by the 
power of His grace. What are we ready to 
do for Him ? He did so much for us. Are 
we willing to yield ourselves, and what we 
have, and are, to His service ? Do we feel for 
those as we should, who have never heard of 
this Saviour, and are we willing to give all 
that we can afford in assisting to extend His 
kingdom, and to bless the world with the light 
of His Gospel? Are we ready to acknowledge 
this Saviour, and work for Him as we have op- 
portunity everywhere? Could we work forever 
for Him, and forever sing His praise, it would 
be but a poor return for what He has done so 
freely and lovingly for us. We may well ask, 
;in the language of that beautiful hymn : 



LIFE OF CHRIST. 1 33 

' Say shall we yield Him in costly devotion 

Odors of Edom and off'rings divine, 
Gems of the mountain and pearls of the ocean, 

Myrrh from the forest or gold from the mine? 

Vainly we offer each humble oblation, 
Vainly with gifts would His favor secure ; 

Richer by far is the heart's adoration, 

Dearer to God are the prayers of the poor.' , 




CHAPTER XVII. 

CHRIST ENTERS JERUSALEM IN TRIUMPH. HE 

CLEANSES THE TEMPLE, AND THE CHILDREN 

CRY HOSANNA.— Matthew xxi. 1-16 ; 

Mark xi. 1-11. 

Golden Text. — Matthew xxi. 9 : "And the multitudes 
that went before and that followed cried, saying Hosanna to 
the son of David; Blessed is He that co?neth in the name of the 
Lord ; Hosanna in the highest" 

np HIS' was a strange* scene in the life of 
-** Jesus. He had been styled by Isaiah " a 
man of sorrows" and few were the bright spots 
in His wonderful and eventful life. The Evan- 
gelist John tells us in a most touching manner 
that " He came unto His own, and His own re- 
ceived Him not." It seemed as though it must 
not all be dark in the life of Jesus, but that 
there must be at least some few joyous occa- 
sions to Velieve the general gloom. The scene 

(i34) 



LIFE OF CHRIST. 135 

of the transfiguration in all its glorious charac- 
ter was one of these, and now, in His triumph- 
ant entry into the holy city, we have another. 
I do not know that we dare say much even 
about this as regards the feelings of the Sav- 
iour. I do not suppose that*He shared in any 
considerable degree the joyous feelings of the 
multitude. He knew that much of this expres- 
sion on the part of the people was not thor- 
oughly sincere, and would not be lasting. He 
doubtless heard some crying " Hosanna" on 
this occasion who would shortly cry "crucify 
Him," and, therefore, if there had been nothing 
else to dampen the joy of Christ, this treachery 
would have been sufficient. But the time of 
His suffering in the garden and on the cross 
for the sin of the world, was rapidly approach- 
ing, and He saw that the storm that was to 
beat upon Him in all its fury for the sin of 
man was nigh at hand. Feelings of deep sad- 
ness no doubt entered His soul, as He knew 



I36 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

that His own people had and would continue 
to reject Him as their Saviour. His triumph 
seemed to be great, and, as you learn from this 
scripture, the people honored Him greatly on 
this occasion. It was all, too, of their own 
doing, and He knew that they were in no way 
compelled to act thus. The Saviour, as you 
will remember, was God as well as man, and as 
God He saw down into the hearts of the people, 
and He knew that much this doing was in- 
sincere. 

Oh, how short-lived, uncertain, and unsatis- 
factory, is not the praise and honor of man. 
One day they cry " Hosanna," and, perhaps, 
the next day, '" crucify Him." My young 
friends, I do not want to rob you of any inno- 
cent joy, or cast a gloom over your youthful 
spirits ; bat it is well and necessary that you 
should know, even now, that much in this 
world is unreal and deceitful, and cannot, 
therefore, be relied on. One has even gone so 



LIFE OF CHRIST. 137 

far as to write : " There is nothing true, but 
heaven." This, strictly speaking, is not cor- 
rect. Religion is true, and its joys lasting and 
sincere ; and Jesus is a true and faithful friend, 
one that " sticketh closer than a brother." 
There is such a thing, too, as having true 
Christian friends in this world, who will rejoice 
with us in joy, and sympathize with us in our 
sorrows, and as far as able relieve us. But, oh ! 
how much that passes for real in every respect, 
is not sincere or true. The selfishness of man 
is very great, and may lead him to do almost 
anything. I have heard of parents acting in 
an insincere and cruel manner towards their 
children ; and children, in return, acting in the 
same way towards their parents, it may be, 
when they were aged, or infirm, or reduced to 
poverty. You will be compelled to see and 
learn, and perhaps even experience, much of 
this in life, if you are spared to live long here. 
Your hearts, even though under the bright and 



I38 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

cheering influence of the love of Jesus, will 
sometimes turn away in sadness, and it may 
be, that you will be tempted to say, with one 
of ancient times : " Oh, that I had wings like a 
dove, for then would I flee away, and be at 
rest." But be cheered by one thought, if you 
are a friend of Jesus, He will be a true and lov- 
ing friend to you at all times, and under all 
circumstances ; and should all earthly friends 
fail or forsake, Jesus will not. 

The people, on this occasion, honored Jesus 
much, as stated. They put their clothes upon 
the animal on which He was to ride, and 
" spread their garments in the way." It would 
seem, further, that they could not well restrain 
their feel.ings, but cried out, saying, " Ho- 
sanna to the Son of David ; Blessed is He 
that cometh in the name of the Lord : Ho- 
sanna in the highest." We are told, further, 
that " when He was come into Jerusalem, the 
whole city was moved, saying, "Who is this ?" 



LIFE OF CHRIST. 1 39 

Who would have thought that many of these 
people would so soon change their voices, and 
cry for His death. We are also informed, that 
after He had entered Jerusalem, He " went 
into the temple of God, and cast out all them 
that sold and bought in the temple, and over- 
threw the tables of the money-changers, and 
the seats of them that sold doves." This was 
also something to sadden the heart of Jesus 
already, and it shows the selfishness and wick- 
edness of the people. 

But this had a beautiful and bright offset to 
it, for the children, with sincere, simple and 
loving hearts, cried, " Hosanna to the Son of 
David." Now, although this action of these 
pious children displeased "the chief priests 
and • scribes," Jesus was much pleased with 
their praises, for He knew that these, at least, 
were sincere, and said in their defence, " have 
ye never read, out of the mouth of babes and 
sucklings, thou hast perfected praise ?" 



I40 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

We suppose that Jesus prized the praises, 
artless praises, of these children, more than all 
the rest. You, my young friends, can, too, 
sing praise to Jesus, and we and others love to 
hear your clear and tender voices proclaiming 
the love of your Saviour, and remember, as 
taught in other chapters, you may early 
become His friends, and work for Him. 
Whilst there may be some wicked persons, 
who may laugh at you, and be ready to hinder 
you, remember, that if you are the friends of 
Jesus, He wants you to sing His praises, and 
acknowledge Him. 




CHAPTER XVIII. 

CHRIST INSTITUTES THE HOLY SUPPER, AND POINTS 
OUT JUDAS AS HIS BETRAYER.— Mattkew xxvi. 2^30 ; 
Luke xxii. 14-20; Mark xiv. 22-26. 

Golden Text. — Luke xxii. 19. — "This do in remem- 
brance of me" 

TT7E COME now, my young friends, to 
some of the deeply interesting and touch- 
ing closing scenes in the eventful life of Christ, 
our loving Redeemer. The Master Himself 
realizes that Hi$ life is rapidly approaching its 
close, and sees rising before Him in full view 

the bitter hours of suffering which He is to 

1 
endure in the garden and on the cross for our 

salvation. He has an earnest desire to cele- 
brate once more with His disciples the ancient 
feast of the Passover, instituted in commemora- 
tion of the destroying angel passing over the 

(142) 



LIFE OF CHRIST. I43 

houses of Israel in Egypt. The reason, as per- 
haps you may remember, why this death angel 
passed over or by the houses of ancient Israel 
on that terrible night of punishment, was be- 
cause these houses, at the command of God, 
had been marked with blood. This marking 
with blood as a means of safety had doubtless 
reference to the blood of Jesus, " the Lamb of 
God," which was to be shed on Calvary, for the 
salvation of all who by faith accept Jesus as 
their Saviour. He told the disciples to go into 
Jerusalem, and say unto "such a man, the Mas- 
ter saith, My time is at hand : I will keep the 
passover at thy house with my disciples," and 
the disciples did as Jesus had appointed them, 
and they made ready the passover. 

Whilst they were eating together, Jesus sud- 
denly cast a great gloom over the little com- 
pany by making the startling declaration, 
" Verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall 
betray me." 



144 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

Now whilst Judas had shown something of 
a wrong disposition on a former occasion, in 
reference to the anointing of Christ by Mary, 
yet I do not know that any of the other disci- 
ples considered him wicked enough for such a 
crime. When the astonished disciples began 
to inquire, " Lord, is it I ?" the Saviour replies, 
" He that dippeth his hand with Me in the 
dish, the same shall betray Me." At last, Judas 
himself asks the question, " Master, is it I ?" 
Jesus replied, " Thou hast said." Now there 
is no longer any mystery or uncertainty, and 
Judas, as the traitor, is clearly pointed out. 
Jesus then proceeds to institute the Holy 
Supper in anticipation of His sufferings in 
the garden, and on the cross. We are in- 
formed by Matthew, that "as they were 
eating, Jesus took bread and blessed it, and 
brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and 
said, Take eat : this is My body." And 
He took the cup, and gave thanks, and 



LIFE OF CHRIST. 145 

gave it to them, saying, " Drink ye all of it ; 
for this is My blood of the New Testament, 
which is shed for many for the remission of 
sins." We have here, then, in few words, and 
without any previous ceremony, the institution 
of the Holy Supper by Jesus, as a solemn 
ordinance of His Church. Learned men have 
disputed much over the nature of this ordi- 
nance, and are, peVhaps, no better agreed now 
than they were hundreds of years ago. It is 
not my intention to disturb your minds with 
anything that has been said on this subject. 
I think it would have been much better for the 
Church of Christ, if much less had been 
written and said on this difficult subject. Suf- 
fice it to state, my friends, that it is a solemn 
ordinance of the Christian Church, as estab- 
lished by Christ Himself, and as observed by 
the early Christians, as we may learn from i 
Cor. xi. 23-29. Our business is not with the 
precise nature of this ordinance, but with the 
10 



I46 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

ordinance. It is, as you see, a Divine ordi- 
nance, instituted by Christ Himself under the 
most solemn circumstances, and is to be 
observed, as we learn elsewhere, by all the 
disciples of Jesus to the end of time. It is 
instituted and intended by Christ only for 
believers in Him, or for His disciples, that 
they, as our liturgical form expresses it very 
beautifully, " may be strengthened in their 
faith and attachment unto Him." It is not 
intended for the world, or careless people, 
only so far as in witnessing its solemn celebra- 
tion * by the disciples of Christ, they may be 
reminded of their need of this Saviour, and of 
their duty to serve Him. I scarcely ever wit- 
nessed its observance by my parents and 
acquaintances, when a boy, but that it made a 
most solemn impression on my heart. It 
spoke to my youthful heart silently x but pow- 
erfully of the dying love of Jesus, and always 
seemed to say: but you, as yet, are not among 
the number of His friends, and are neglecting 



LIFE OF CHRIST. 1 47 

this salvation. It was designed to place before 
our minds and our eyes the love of God, the 
Father, and of the Lord Jesus, to perishing 
sinners. It was intended to keep this great 
truth, above all others, fresh in the minds of 
His people in all ages, and fresh in the minds 
of the world. 

I, in company with many others, visited re- 
cently the tomb of General Washington, at Mt. 
Vernon, near Washington, D. C., the justly be- 
loved and honored Father of our common coun- 
try. As I stood before his tomb, and beheld 
with my own eyes the tomb in which repose 
his mortal remains, I realized, as perhaps I 
could not have done elsewhere, how much 
every -American citizen owes to him for what 
he did for us. So, too, Jesus, knowing that 
His people, living in this sinful world, and sur- 
rounded from day to day by so many things 
calculated to withdraw their affections from 
Him, instituted this sacred ordinance to 
remind them of His dying love. He designed 



I48 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

too, that it should set before us the evil nature 
of sin, which caused Him to suffer so much 
for us, and by feeling that we have a common 
Saviour to unite the hearts of His friends in 
love and forbearance to each other. I hope, 
my young friends, that you will early seek by 
repentance of sin and faith in Jesus to become 
His disciples, and by professing Him before 
men, enter the Church, and seek to obey that 
commandment of Jesus, "this do in remem- 
brance of Me." I have seen some very young 
persons surround the table of their Lord, and 
I trust they were sincere friends of Jesus. 
Remember, God's Word has a most beautiful 
promise for you in these encouraging words, 
"they that seek Me early, shall find .-Me." 
You will remember, too, however, that as I 
have stated, this ordinance is not for careless, 
wicked people, but for the followers of Christ; 
but none of the weakest and most humble 
should be deterred from its celebration, as it 
will strengthen them, and do them good. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

CHRIST'S AGONY IN THE GARDEN, AND HIS BETRAYAL 

BY JUDAS.— Matthew xxvi. 36-48; Luke xxii. 39-48; Mark 

xiv. 32-42 ; John xviii. 1-8. 

Golden Text. — Matthew xxvi. 39. — ^And He went a 
little farther and prayed, saying, O My Father, if it be possi- 
ble, let this cup pass from Me : ?ievertheless, not as I will, but 
as Thou wilt." 

" Oh, Garden of Olives, thou dear honored spot, 
The fame of thy wonders shall ne'er be forgot ; 
The theme most transporting to seraphs above, 
The triumph of sorrow — the triumph of love." 

TT^E GO now with the blessed Saviour 
* into the garden of sorrows, called Geth- 
semane. We see Him leaving Jerusalem, with 
its multitude of people and its bustle; and taking 
with Him the disciples, crosses the brook Ced- 
ron, and enters the garden of Olives. This 
garden, or grove, was a beautiful and retired 

(i49) 



ISO LIFE OF CHRIST. 

place, a short distance from Jerusalem, on the 
western side of Mount Olivet. It was laid out 
in shaded walks, with fountains, and was a de- 
sirable place of retirement from the bustle and 
noise of the city. We are informed by John 
that "Jesus ofttimes resorted thither with his 
disciples." Never had He gone into this garden 
with the same sorrowful feelings which now 
press upon Him. The fall of man took place 
in a garden, and now human redemption by 
Christ must begin in a garden too. 

The severe conflict with the powers of dark- 
ness, it would seem, began as soon as He en- 
tered the place, and, therefore, we read that He 
said unto the disciples, " Sit ye here, while I 
go and pray yonder." He thus separated him- 
self from the disciples, as we are told, taking 
only Peter, James and John with . Him. The 
sorrow of a world's sin and a sense of God's 
wrath against it press now so heavily upon 
Jesus that He finds it desirable to*be entirely 



LIFE OF CHRIST. 151 

alone, and it is therefore said, "and He went a 
little farther and fell on His face and prayed, O, 
My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass 
from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as 
Thou wjlt." There may have been two reasons 
why Christ in His agony and earnest praying 
withdrew from even His most beloved disciples. 
First, we suppose He desired to be entirely 
alone with God, His Father. Secondly, He 
may have known that His intense agony would 
overpower His disciples. You remember He 
would go away and pray, and then return only 
to.find them sleeping. Thus he did three times. 
It would seem to have been very ungrateful 
and unbecoming for these disciples to act as 
they did. The Saviour says in language of re- 
proof, " What, could ye not watch with me one 
hour ?" " Watch and pray, that ye enter not 
into temptation." But He afterward, in His 
tender compassion for their weakness, adds in 
the way of excuse for them, "the spirit indeed 



152 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

is willing, but the flesh is weak." Oh, what a 
loving Saviour we have ; why should any stay 
away from Him ? 

It was not a fear of death that thus troubled 
Christ, and led Him to pray and act as He 
did, for many martyrs have shown greater 
strength by going forth joyfully to the stake. 
It was the sin of the world pressing upon Him, 
and the powers of darkness opposing His 
work. O, think how deep were the sorrows of 
Jesus in the garden for our sins. Denied even 
the sympathy of His most intimate friends; 
surely, as the prophet had said for Jesus, " I 
have trodden the winepress alone, and of the 
people, there was none with me." It seems 
generally a great relief to have a few tried 
friends with us in our hours of suffering. 
Their words of sympathy come ofttimes like a 
healing balm to our wounded spirits, but of 
even this source of consolation Christ is 
deprived. They not only do not speak words 



LIFE OF CHRIST. 1 53 

of comfort, but show so great a want of con- 
cern, as even to sleep in the midst of the 
Saviour's most severe agony. We see from 
this part of the sorrow of Christ, how much 
human redemption cost. Ah ! we can never 
estimate the keen anguish endured by Jesus 
for us under the trees of Olivet. We see, too, 
His intense love to His disciples, even seeking 
to excuse the indifference which they mani- 
fested towards Him in this trying hour. We 
see, too, our refuge of safety in every time of 
trial, and amid all the sorrows of life; it is 
prayer. Oh, how much evil, shame and sin 
would be avoided, did all the disciples of 
Christ, when sin and Satan come upon them, 
wrestle in prayer to God for deliverance, as 
Jesus did. The darker, therefore, our time of 
trial is, the more earnestly and perseveringly 
should we be engaged in prayer. 

Even grown persons sometimes think they 
cannot pray, but it is a great mistake. Prayer 



154 LIFE 0F CHRIST. 

is only crying to God for help, as a child 
would call upon his parent, or as one friend 
would entreat another friend for help. 

You must remember, my young friends, that 
you cannot serve God, overcome temptation, 
and reach heaven without prayer, much 
prayer. It is utterly impossible. . 

A very keen part of the Saviour's suffering 
in the garden remains to be noticed, and that 
His betrayal by Judas Iscariot, one of His pro- 
fessed friends, into the hands of His enemies. 
He said to His disciples, for He knew all 
things, " Rise, let us be going; behold he is at 
hand that doth betray Me. And while He 
yet spake, lo, Judas, one of the twelve, came, 
and with him, a great multitude with swords 
and staves, from the chief priests and elders of 
the people. Now he that betrayed Him gave 
them a sign, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, 
that same is He ; hold Him fast. And forth- 
with he came to Jesus, and said, Hail, Master; 



LIFE OF CHRIST. 155 

and kissed Him. And Jesus said unto him, 
Friend, wherefore art thou come." Here, you 
see, we have the crowning point to the Sav- 
iour's agony in the garden. Not only must 
He endure the unconcern of some of His dis- 
ciples, but now, one of the twelve, named 
Judas, as you see, betrays his Master into the 
hands of His enemies with a kiss. Oh, the 
malignant baseness and wickedness of the 
man; no wonder we hate the very name. 
Judas knew the place, for he had often been 
there in company with Jesus and His other 
disciples. The multitude would not have 
been able to distinguish Jesus from the other 
disciples, and, therefore, Judas, the vile traitor, 
had bargained to point Him out, as he did, by 
giving the sweetest sign of friendship. We 
see, from this last part of the Saviour's sorrow, 
that although we may have true friends, who 
never would act in so base a way towards us 
as Judas did to Christ, still we should not rely 



I56 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

too much upon human friendship, as it is, at 
best, but a frail dependence, and may be sud- 
denly, even if entirely true, taken away from 
us. Jesus is a friend who always lives and 
can help us. Oh, that in every dark and try- 
ing hour, we may cling closely to Him. May 
we follow, also, the example of our Divine 
Master, in every hour of darkness and tempta- 
tion, in seeking, by earnest prayer, strength to 
bear, or grace to overcome the evil by which 
we may be surrounded. 




CHAPTER XX. 

THE TRIAL OF JESUS AND HIS DENIAL BY PETER, 

AND THE REPENTANCE OF JUDAS.— Matthew 

xxvi. 57-75; xxvii. 1-26; Mark xiv. 55-72; xv. 

1-15 ; Luke xxii. 54-71 ; xxiii. 1-23 ; 

John xviii. 13-40 ; xix. 1-16. 

Golden Text. — John xix. 4: "Behold, I bring Him 
forth to you 1 that ye may know that Ififtd no fault in Him" 

r I ^HE trial of Jesus was of a two-fold char- 
■*• acter. First, before the Spiritual Court of 
the Jews, and secondly, before Pontius Pilate, 
the Roman Governor. After Christ had been 
betrayed by Judas into the hands of His ene- 
mies, He was led by them to the Spiritual 
Court of the Jews. He was taken, first before 
Annas, who had been high priest, and had, 
doubtless, very considerable influence; more, 
perhaps, to obtain his sanction to their con- 
duct, than for any other consideration. Thence 

(i57.) 



I58 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

He was taken to Caiaphas, son-in-law of Annas, 
and then acting high priest. "The chief 
priests, and elders, and all the council, sought 
false witnesses against Jesus to put Him to' 
death; but found none." At last, we are 
informed, that two such witnesses came forth, 
who testified to something that the Saviour 
had said in reference to the destruction of the 
temple, and His building it again. But even 
these did not so agree as to make out a case. 
Whereupon the high priest became very much 
excited, and exhorted the Lord Jesus to 
testify as to whether he was the Son of God, 
or not. Jesus answered, " Thou hast said/' 
which was equivalent to an affirmation. 
" Then the high priest rent his clothes, saying, 
He hath spoken blasphemy, what further need 
have we of witnesses ; behold, now ye have 
heard His blasphemy, What think ye ? They 
answered, He is guilty of death. " Upon this, 
they offered several very severe indignities to 






LIFE OF CHRIST. 1 59 

our blessed Lord, spitting upon Him, and 
smiting on His face with the palms of their 
hands.. Now, whilst all this was going on, 
Peter sat without in the palace, and there 
came unto him a young woman, saying, "Thou 
also wast with Jesus of Galilee." But he 
denied before them all, saying, " I know not 
what thou sayest." Now when he was gone 
out into the porch, another maid saw him, and 
said, " This fellow was also with Jesus of Naz- 
areth. And, again, he denied with an oath, I 
know not this man." "After a while came 
unto him they that stood by, and said unto 
Peter, surely, thou also art one of them, for thy 
speech betrayeth thee. Then began he to 
curse and swear, saying, I know not the man." 
He had, now, according to what Jesus had 
told him in the midst of his boasted attach- 
ment, denied Him thrice in the most shameful 
manner, and it now only remains for the cock 
to announce his denial, and we are informed, 



l60 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

" immediately the cock crew." And Peter 
remembered the word of Jesus, which said 
unto him, before the cock crow, thou shalt 
deny me thrice. " And he went out, and wept 
bitterly." You will recollect that there was 
another circumstance which led to Peter's re- 
pentance, and that was a look which Jesus 
gave him. The Master said not a word, but 
merely turned and looked upon him. This 
look was, doubtless, such an one as Jesus 
alone could give, so expressive of tenderness 
and sympathy, whilst recalling his sin : so 
mingled with the deep regret and sorrow, as 
immediately to unseal the fountain of Peter's 
feelings, and melt him down, and cause the 
most sincere repentance to fill his soul. You 
will remember, as aggravating Peter's fall, how 
he had been with the Saviour on the mount of 
transfiguration, and when He raised the dead, 
and enjoyed so many advantages. You will 
remember, too, how earnest had been his 



LIFE OF CHRIST. l6l 

declarations of love to Jesus only a short time 
before, and how he had said though all 
should forsake Christ, yet would not he. Two 
causes chiefly, we suppose, led to this sad fall 
on the part of Peter. First, we are informed 
that he followed Christ, like too many of the 
present day, "afar off;" and secondly, he had 
gone in among the enemies of the Lord, when 
the trial of Jesus was going on. Had he 
remembered that part of the Lord's prayer, 
which asks, " lead us not into temptation," and 
had he withdrawn to secret prayer, as Jesus 
did in His hour of temptation in the garden, 
how different it might have been with him. 
You will also remember, my young friends, 
that after his repentance, which was most deep 
and sincere, he became very bold in the ser- 
vice of his -Master, and stood upon the day of 
Pentecost in Jerusalem, and preached Christ, 
in His death and resurrection, in such a pow- 
erful manner as to lead to the conviction and 
ii 



1 62 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

conversion of three thousand persons. It is 
also related that Peter, in remembrance of his 
crime in so basely denying his Lord, desired, 
and was crucified with his head downwards to 
the earth. 

The fall of Peter teaches us the great, sol- 
emn and very important lesson which we should 
never forget, that when left to ourselves we are 
very weak creatures, and liable to sin greatly 
against God. I never hear persons speak of 
their strength and attainments in the Divine 
life, but I think of Peter's sad fall, and of that 
Scripture which saith, " Wherefore let him that 
thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." 
We have at the close of the trial of Jesus before 
the Spiritual Court of the Jews to see another 
most wonderful and exciting occurrence. The 
trial of Christ, you must recollect, was going 
on through the silent hours of the night, 
whilst some were quietly sleeping in their 
peaceful homes. It is supposed to have been 



LIFE OF CHRIST. 1 63 

about three o'clock in the morning when Peter 
denied his Master. Now that the morning has 
come, "all the chief priests and elders of the 
people took counsel against Jesus to put him 
to death." They most probably would have 
proceeded to execute their sentence had it not 
been that they feared the people, and thought 
that to £void all trouble on their part and make 
a better show of justice, it w r ould be wiser to 
have the sentence of the Roman Governor. 
Now at this stage of their doings a most won- 
derful and exciting thing occurred, and one 
which should certainly have checked their con- 
science, and have caused them to stop from 
going any further. When Judas, the betrayer 
of Jesus, saw that He was condemned by them, 
and that He was bound, his conscience smote 
him, and it is said he "repented himself, and 
brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the 
chief priests and elders, saying, I have sinned 
in that I have betrayed the innocent blood." 



164 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

He may have thought up to this time that 
Jesus would work a miracle for His own de- 
liverance, but now, if he had, he gives up all 
hope. He receives very cold comfort from the 
enemies of Christ, for "they said ; What is that 
to us? see thou to that." The only thing which 
seemed to give them any trouble was as to 
what they should do with this money of Judas. 
They thought that as it was "the price of 
blood" it could not go into the Lord's treasury, 
and, after some consultation, they determined 
to buy " the potter's field to bury strangers in." 
Judas, the infamous traitor, went out in the 
meantime, and hanged himself. His repent- 
ance was unlike that of Peter ; it did not bring 
him to the -feet of Jesus, but led him to the 
commission of the terrible crime of taking his 
own life. Oh ! how dark and dreadful the 
course and end of this miserable man ! It is 
said of him, in the Acts of the Apostles, " And 
falling headlong, he burst asunder in midst, 



LIFE OF CHRIST. 1 65 

and all his bowels gushed out." Dr. Lyman 
Beecher explained this apparent difficulty in 
the account of the death of Judas to an infidel, 
in three words : " The rope broke." 

We come now to the trial of Jesus before 
Pontius Pilate, the Roman Governor. Pilate 
seems in the very outset to have been thor- 
oughly convinced of the entire innocency of 
Jesus, and evidently did not want to have any- 
thing to do either with his trial or condemna- 
tion. When he heard that Jesus was a 
Galilean, he sent Him to Herod, as being more 
properly under his rule ; but Herod, who did 
not, perhaps, care to be troubled with the case, 
returned Him to Pilate. There was a circum- 
stance which made Pilate the more afraid. 
His own " wife sent unto him, saying, have 
thou nothing to do with that just person, for I 
have suffered many things this day in a dream, 
because of Him." He also having found, as 
he expressed himself, no cause for condemna- 



1 66 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

tion in Christ, made a very ingenious and well- 
timed effort to secure His release. It was 
customary, at the feast, to ' release some 
prisoner. They held, at that time, a notable 
prisoner named Barabbas. Pilate, having an 
earnest desire to free Jesus, and scarcely sup- 
posing that they would ask for the release of 
so vile a person as Barabbas, " said unto them, 
whom will ye that I release unto you, Barab- 
bas, or Jesus, which is called Christ ?" The 
multitude, to his surprise and sorrow, asked 
for Barabbas. " When Pilate . saw that he 
could prevail nothing, but rather a tumult was 
made, he took water and washed his hands 
before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of 
the blood of this just person ; see ye to it. 
Then released he Barabbas unto them, and 
when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered 
Him to be crucified." Now whilst Pilate did 
wickedly in not acting out his convictions, 
and refusing to condemn Jesus, yet w T e think 



LIFE OF CHRIST. 1 67 

the malicious chief priests and elders, who 
delivered Jesus to Pilate, acted still more 
wickedly, for they had more light, and should 
have known better. We should add, in regard 
to this conduct of Pilate, those lines of that 
beautiful Sabbath-school hymn, which we 
should seek ever to follow : 

" Dare to do right, 
Dare to be true ; 
God and your conscience 
Will carry you through." 

See, too, how differently Mordecai of old 
acted, in refusing to do homage to wicked 
Haman, and thus, by his decision, saved the 
Jewish nation. See, too, how differently the 
immortal Luther acted, when surrounded by 
danger, and threatened with death. True 
courage, and the fear of God caused him ever 
to stand out firmly for what he believed to be 
true and right. The Lord help you, my young 
friends, to stand up boldly for Jesus, and to 



l68 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

seek ever, as far as possible, to defend injured 
innocency. Oh, how much such people, men, 
women, and children, are needed at this day 
in the Church, and in the world ! Oh, that 
you may early learn and feel, too, how much 
your blessed Saviour endured for you, and be 
early led to love and serve Him who has loved 
us so much, and suffered so much unjustly for 
us. If you should, in any way, be persecuted 
for Him, remember the thorny path ' He trod 
for you. 







CHAPTER XXI. 

THE CRUCIFIXION OF CHRIST.— Matthew xxvii. 2 7 -6c ; 
Mark xv. 16-47 5 Luke xxiii. 26-53 » 2<^« xix. 16-41. 

Golden Text. — Luke xxiii. 48 : " And all the people 
that came together to that sight, beholding the things that 
were done, smote their breasts and returned P 

\ FTER that Pilate had gone through with 
^ the mock trial of Jesus, of which we have 
read, had washed his hands in token of his in- 
nocence, and delivered Jesus, to be crucified, 
it seems that then the soldiers thought they 
were at liberty to insult Him in almost every 
way, and accordingly their indignities immedi- 
ately began. " They stripped Him, and put on 
Him a scarlet robe. And when they had 
plaited Him a crown of thorns they put it upon 
His head, and a reed in His right hand : and 
they bowed the knee before Him, and mocked 

Him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews ! And 

(169) 



I/O LIFE OF CHRIST. 

they spit upon Him, and took the reed and 
smote Him on the head. And after that they 
had mocked him, they took the robe off from 
Him, and put His own raiment on Him, and 
they led Him away to crucify Him." Jesus 
being much worried and exhausted from the 
long-continued excitement, and fearing, perhaps, 
that he might faint by the way, and that possi- 
bly they might not have the pleasure of cruci- 
fying Him, they compelled Simon of Cyrene to 
bear the cross of Jesus. 

There followed Him a great company of peo- 
ple and of women, lamenting and bewailing 
Him. Jesus, turning unto them, said, " Daugh- 
ters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep 
for yourselves and your children." We must 
not think that Jesus had no friends. There 
were many who from His kind miracles and 
wonderful teachings were tenderly attached to 
Him. Jerusalem, the holy city, must have 
been in a state of great excitement at this time, 



LIFE OF CHRIST. I/I 

and, as they led Him away from the hall of 
judgment, and out of .one of the gates of the 
city, quite a company followed Him. They 
led Him to a place called Golgotha, which was 
a little hill north of ancient Jerusalem, and 
about a half-mile distant from the temple. The 
place received this name, which means the 
place of a skull, "either from its shape, or from 
the circumstance that it was the usual place for 
executing criminals." It is now known to us 
as Mount Calvary, a name precious to every 
Christian. 

Jesus having requested a drink, they gave 
Him vinegar "mingled with gall, and when he 
had tasted thereof he would not drink." They 
also parted His garments, casting lots. One 
piece of His raiment was woven together with- 
out seam, and they therefore fulfilled that 
Scripture which said, " they parted My gar- 
ments among them, and upon My vesture did 
they cast lots." " And sitting down they 



172 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

watched Him there." Pilate had ordered that 
the following writing, in three languages, viz. — 
Hebrew, Latin and Greek — so that all might 
read, should be placed "over His head." 
" This is Jesus, the King of the Jews." 
You may remember, too, that some persons 
wanted Pilate to change this writing, and have 
it written, not " king of the Jews," but that " He 
said, I am the King of the Jews." Pilate, how- 
ever, gave a very decided answer to this request 
and said, "what I have written I have written." 
As much as to say, I cannot and will not 
change it, and I believe it to be true. Now 
had this man showed anything like the same 
firmness in the matter of the trial of Jesus, he 
never would have condemned Him, or given 
his consent to His crucifixion. "They that 
passed by reviled Him, wagging their heads 
and saying, Thou that destroyest the temple 
and buildest it in three days, save Thyself. If 
Thou be the Son of God, come down from the 



LIFE OF CHRIST. 1/3 

cross." In order to make the death of Jesus 
more shameful, He was crucified between two 
thieves, one of whom also taunted Him in His 
dying hour. 

Crucifixion, you know, was regarded among 
the Romans as the basest and most shameful 
death, deserved only by traitors. It was, also, 
a lingering and most painful death. Sometimes 
their protracted sufferings \^ere ended by set- 
ting fire to the foot of the cross, or by breaking 
the limbs with a hammer, or, at other times, by 
piercing the body with a lance. The agonies 
suffered by this mode of death were of a very 
extreme kind. About the ninth hour, we are 
informed, Jesus cried, " My God, My God, why 
hast Thou forsaken Me." You remember, too, 
how very differently the two thieves acted ; just 
as nowadays, there is often a great difference 
in members even of the same family. The one 
reviled Jesus, and said insultingly, " If Thou be 
Christ, save Thyself and us/ But the other, 



174 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

answering, rebuked him, saying, " Dost thou 
not fear God, seeing thou art in the same con- 
demnation ? And we, indeed, justly, for we 
receive the due reward of our deeds, but this 
man hath done nothing amiss." He then 
showed still further and most clearly the gen- 
uineness of his repentance, when, turning his 
languid eye, perhaps becoming glassy in death, 
to Jesus, he prayed, " Lord, remember me when 
Thou comest into Thy kingdom." The soul- 
cheering, encouraging and, I suppose, unex- 
pected answer which this poor man received 
was, " To-day shalt thou be with Me in Para- 
dise." Thus, you see, the very arrangement 
which the enemies of our Lord had made to 
increase the shameful character of His death 
is made to shine with greatest splendor, through 
all ages of the world. Oh, how the conferring 
of salvation on this penitent man has exalted 
Christ and the Gospel, and has brought to the 
mind of many a poor, despairing sinner the 



LIFE OF CHRIST. 1/5 

glorious truth, " He is able to save unto the 
uttermost!" He also prayed most beautifully 
for His enemies : " Father, forgive them, for 
they know not what they do." 

There was darkness over the earth, for the 
sun refused to shine upon such terrible wicked- 
ness, and mourned in token of the death of the 
Son of God. No wonder thou didst hide thy 
face in darkness, O glorious light of the world! 
The earth also did quake, and the rocks were 
rent. " The veil of the temple was rent in 
twain from the top to the-bottom." " And the 
graves were opened ; and many bodies of the 
saints which slept arose and came out of the 
graves, after His resurrection, and went into 
the holy city and appeared unto many." Oh, 
how terrible must have been the scene, and 
what feelings of alarm must have seized the 
minds of His enemies ! How their consciences, 
if not utterly hardened, must have upbraided and 
tormented them ! How must wicked Pilate 



I76 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

have felt at this time! No wonder that the 
centurion, who was standing by, and witnessed 
these terrific scenes, exclaimed, " Truly, this 
was the Son of God." No wonder, either, that 
we read, " And all the people that came together 
to that sight, beholding the things which were 
done, smote their breasts and returned." 

When in the evening they examined the 
bodies to see if they were dead, and if they 
were not, to hasten their death by breaking the 
bones, and came to Jesus, they brake none of 
His bonfes, for they found that He was already 
dead, and thus the Scripture was fulfilled again, 
"a bone of Him shall not be broken." One of 
the soldiers, however, in order to be certain 
that Jesus was dead, "with a spear pierced His 
side, and forthwith came there out blood and 
water." Joseph, of Arimathea, being a disciple 
of Jesus, went to Pilate, and begged the body 
of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to 
be delivered. And when Joseph had taken the 



LIFE OF CHRIST. 177 

body, he wrapped it in clean linen cloth, and 
laid it in his own new tomb, which he had 
hewn out of the rock, and he rolled a great 
stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed. 

What a solemn night that must have been 
both for the friends and the enemies of Jesus, 
when His body, cold and lifeless, reposed in 
this new tomb of Joseph ! . What a cloud of 
darkness and gloom must have hung over Jeru- 
salem ! We love the bodies of our friends even 
in death, and it was a great kindness on -the 
part of Joseph to do as he did, in going to Pi- 
late at that trying time, and begging the dead 
body of our Lord, and in kindly caring for it 
as he did. Methinks we all owe him a debt of 
gratitude for what he did for our crucified Lord. 
This has always seemed to me a bright spot 
in the naturally dark colors of this tragic pic- 
ture. 

Now, my young friends, as your hearts are 
softened in reading what Jesus endured for us 

12 



I78 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

all, in the garden and on the cross, may you 
all feel that it is alone "by His stripes" that we 
poor, sinful creatures can be " healed ;" that 
it was to save us that Jesus endured all this 
shame. and agony, and that if we could have 
been saved in any other way, Christ would not 
have undergone for us what he did ; that it is 
alone by faith in Jesus, as our personal Re- 
deemer, that we can be saved. Oh, that you 
might come now, in the morning of your days, 
and by true repentance and faith in this Saviour, 
dedicate yourselves to His service for all time 
and all eternity, saying in the language of that 
sweet hymn : 

" Were the whole realm of nature mine, 
That were a tribute far too small ; 
Love so amazing, so divine, 

Demands my soul, my life, my all," 



CHAPTER XXII. 

THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST.— Matthew xxviii. ; Mark 
xvi.; Luke xxiv.; John xx. 

Golden Text.— Luke xxiv. 6. — "He is not here, but is 
risen." 

" Ye mourning saints, dry ev'ry tear 
For your departed Lord : 
Behold the place ; He is not here, 

The tomb is all unbarred : 
The gates of death were closed in vain ; 
The Lord is risen.. He lives again." 

r I A HE time passed between the death of Jesus 
*- and His resurrection was a dark and sor- 
rowful time for His disciples. It is trying un- 
der any circumstances to see a dear friend sud- 
denly cut down by death, and removed from 
us. How much more sad it is to be compelled 
to see one die in such a cruel manner as Jesus 

(179) 



l8o LIFE OF CHRIST. 

did. Christ, as you may remember, like a kind 
friend, seeing the dark scene of His death ap- 
proaching, sought to prepare the minds of His 
disciples for it. He had also clearly foretold 
that He would rise again, but when the dis- 
tressed disciples saw Him condemned,«and die 
as He did, they seemed to have been overcome 
with fear and unbelief. These disciples, my 
young friends, were slow learners in the school 
of Christ, and when, after you have been going 
to Sabbath T school for some time, you find that 
there is much that you do not fully understand 
you must not be discouraged. So, too, in your 
after Christian life ; if still you find unbelief, as 
you will, in your hearts, do not be discouraged 

on this account, as it was so with the disciples 

* 
of old. I think they fell very far below the 

measure of their privileges, and yet, perhaps, if 
we had been in their place, we might not have 
done any better. They loved Jesus, and, there- 
fore, when He spoke to them about His cruel 



LIFE OF CHRIST. l8l 

sufferings and death, they did not want to hear. 
You remember that Peter told Him, when He 
was speaking in this way, " far be it from Thee." 
It would be hard for you or for me to place 
ourselves in the situation of those friends of 
Jesus. They remind preachers very much of 
many people who are members of the Church 
at this time. They hear the doctrines and 
duties of religion explained, as the preachers 
think, clearly, and yet, when we talk to them, 
they seem to know so little, and to do still even 
less, than they know. 

You may remember in what a sad condition 
Jesus found those two disciples who were jour- 
neying towards Emmaus, and with whom He 
conversed after His resurrection ; that after 
talking with them for some time, and hearing 
their doleful account of things, Jesus began to 
reprove them, and said not very softly, " O fools 
and slow of heart to believe all that the proph- 
ets have spoken ; ought not Christ to have suf- 



1 82 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

fered these things, and to enter into His glory? 
And, beginning at Moses and all the prophets, 
he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures 
concerning Himself." 

You may remember, too, how the sepulchre, 
at the request of the chief priests and Pharisees, 
had been secured ; for they said unto Pilate, 
" Sir, we remember that the deceiver said while 
He was yet alive, After three days I will rise 
again ; command, therefore, that the sepulchre 
be made sure until the third day, least His dis- 
ciples come by night and steal Him away, and 
say unto the people, He is risen from the dead ; 
so the last error shall be worse than the first. 
Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch : go 
your way and make it as sure as ye can. So 
they went and made the sepulchre sure, sealing 
the stone and setting a watch." 

You may remember, too, how the chief 
priests, after they had heard reports in regard 
to the resurrection of Christ, through the watch, 



LIFE OF CHRIST. 1 83 

bribed the soldiers by paying them money to 
say, "His disciples came by night and stole Him 
away while we slept." We see how vain are 
all the efforts of Satan, and of wicked men, to 
overcome the truth, and to prevent the designs 
of God. Early on the morning of the third day 
Jesus, the Lord, had triumphed over death and 
the grave. For when the women — some of 
whom had been at the sepulchre after the body 
of Christ had been placed in it — came at an 
early hour to anoint, or perhaps to finish the 
work of anointing the body of Jesus with spices, 
He had already arisen. It was love which led 
them to seek to do this last act of kindness to 
the body of their crucified Lord. You may 
remember, too, how the women feared that 
they might not be able to enter the sepulchre 
after they had reached it, and had asked the 
question in reference to the great stone which 
some of them had seen rolled to its door, "who 
shall roll us away the stone from the door of 



I84 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

the sepulchre ?" But there had been, as we are 
informed, ie a great earthquake, for the angel of 
the Lord descended from heaven, and came and 
rolled back the stone from the door and sat 
upon it." This angel is described as having a 
countenance "like lightning," and raiment 
"white as snow." It is further stated, also, that 
" for fear of him the keepers did shake and be- 
came as dead men." Now it is supposed that 
it was during this scene, and whilst the keepers 
were unconscious, early in the morning, that 
Jesus, our Lord and Saviour, arose from the 
dead — deliberately laid aside the grave clothes, 
as they were afterwards found lying, and left 
the sepulchre. When, therefore, the women 
came to perform their kind office, they found 
the stone rolled away, but they saw not the 
body of Jesus. Mary, almost overcome by her 
feelings, having passed through such exciting 
scenes, hastened away to tell the disciples of 
what had taken place. Upon hearing this, Peter 



LIFE OF CHRIST. 1 85 

and John hastened off to the sepulchre and found 
things as they had been informed. It would 
seem from the narrative that after Mary was 
gone, the other women may have looked 
around the garden searching for the body, and 
determined to go into the sepulchre and exam- 
ine carefully. They entered it, and found an 
angel, who informed them that Christ had 
arisen, and requested them to go and inform 
Peter and the disciples. It would seem that 
these women, in seeking to obey the command 
of the angel, and make known the cheering 
tidings of a risen Saviour, did not meet Mary 
Magdalene, John and Peter, who had, it would 
appear, taken another road, perhaps a nearer 
route, in their great haste and anxiety to reach 
the sepulchre. John, being the younger and 
the more active, outran Peter and reached the 
sepulchre first, and, stooping down and looking 
in, saw the linen clothes lying : yet went he not 
in. When Peter came, however, being more 



1 86 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

impulsive, he "went into the sepulchre and 
seeth the linen lie, and the napkin that was 
about His head not lying with the linen clothes, 
but wrapped together in a place by itself." 
Then came also John, " and he saw and 
believed." That is, was satisfied at any rate 
that the body was gone. He saw, too, that 
nothing seemed to have been done in haste, 
for "the napkin was wrapped together in a 
place by itself." • John adds : " For as yet they 
knew not the Scripture, that He must rise again 
from the dead." After these disciples had left 
the sepulchre and returned home, Mary, in 
her great attachment, having returned, still 
lingered there, and was weeping ; when, you 
remember, Jesus asked why she wept. She 
supposing Him to be the gardener said : " Be- 
cause they have taken away my Lord, and I 
know not where they have laid Him." She also 
said unto Him, " Sir, if thou have borne Him 
hence, tell me where thou hast laid Him, and I 



LIFE OF CHRIST. 1 87 

will take Him away. Jesus saith unto her, 
Mary. She turned herself and saith unto Him 
Rabboni; which is to say Master." You will re- 
member, too, how that afterwards, He appeared 
unto others at different places and under dif- 
ferent circumstances; to the other women, to * 
Peter, to the two disciples on their way to 
Emmaus, to the apostles when Thomas was 
absent, and then again when Thomas was pres- 
ent; and, in compassion to his weakness and 
unbelief, you will recollect how Jesus said to 
him, " Reach hither thy finger and behold My 
hands, and reach hither thy hand and thrust it 
into My side, and be not faithless but believ- 
ing;" how Thomas, too, after this experience, 
exclaimed, " My Lord and my God." He also 
appeared in Galilee to a number of disciples at 
the sea of Tiberias ; also to the disciples as 
appointed in a mountain in Galilee ;*also to the 
eleven as they sat at meat, " and upbraided them 
for their unbelief and hardness of heart;" also 



1 88 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

as Paul informs us, to " five hundred brethren 
at once; of whom the greater part remain unto 
this present time, but some have fallen asleep." 
The Saviour remained on the earth forty days 
after His resurrection, conversing in a familiar 
manner with His disciples, and then, you know, 
ascended to Heaven in their presence from the 
Mount of Olives. I have always regarded it as 
one of the strongest, if not the strongest, argu- 
ment for the resurrection of Christ, that the 
timid Peter preached this doctrine in a most 
fearless manner, on the day of Pentecost, 
shortly after the Saviour's ascension, in the city 
of Jerusalem, near which Jesus had been cruci- 
fied, and where the people knew all about it; 
and his preaching resulted in the conversion of 
three thousand souls. Among this number 
may have been some of our Lord's murderers. 
Now, the doctrine of the resurrection of 
Christ is about as important and as essential 
to Christianity as His sufferings and death for 



LIFE OF CHRIST. 1 89 

our redemption. Paul viewed it in this light, 
for he says, " If Christ be not risen from the 
dead, then is our preaching vain and your faith 
also is vain." If Jesus had not arisen, His own 
declaration in regard to this matter would have 
proved false, and all His claims to being the 
Son of God and Saviour of the world would 
have been overthrown. Now, however, we 
have a sure foundation on which to build. It 
is stated that Lord Lyttleton and his friend, 
Gilbert West, esq., both men of talent, had im- 
bibed principles of infidelity. They sought to 
overthrow Christianity. Lord Lyttleton, it is 
said, chose for his subject the conversion of 
Paul, and Mr. West the resurrection of Christ. 
But instead of overthrowing Christianity, they 
were overthrown in their infidelity, and have 
furnished two able works on these subjects in 
defense of Christianity. 

The doctrine of the resurrection of Christ has 
in it the idea of victory over death and the 



190 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

grave for all His people, and they can and 
should be able to say, in the language of 
David, " Yea, though I walk through the valley 
of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, for 
Thou art with me : Thy rod and Thy staff they 
comfort me." This doctrine is a most com- 
forting one, too, to Christians, both as regards 
their own resurrection and that of their pious 
departed friends. It is true that all will be 
raised up, both the righteous and the wicked, 
but the mere fact of the ungodly being raised 
from the grave has in it nothing consolatory, 
for their bodies and souls shall be forever ban- 
ished from the presence of God into the world 
of woe. Of the righteous, however, it is said 
that they come forth "to the resurrection of 
life/' and shall have spiritual bodies, "fashioned 
like unto the glorious body" of Christ Himself. 
Why, therefore, should not Christians view 
death with composure, both in reference to 
themselves and pious friends. They should be 



LIFE OF CHRIST. I9I 

enabled to say in reference to themselves, in the 
language of that beautiful hymn, " Since Jesus 
hath lain there I dread not its gloom ;" and in 
reference to friends who have died in the Lord, 
" Even so them also which sleep in Jesus, will 
God bring v/ith Him." Oh, with what cheer- 
ing power have not those beautiful words of 
Christ fallen on our ears, and into our hearts 
as we surrounded the open grave of some loved 
one. " I am the resurrection and the life ; he 
that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet 
shall he live; and whosoever liveth and be- 
lieveth shall never die." Christianity, my 
young friends, is the only religion that sheds 
light around the tomb, and can fortify us 
against the terrors of death. O, how earnestly 
we should seek to become Christians. We 
should not think of putting this great and all- 
important matter off unto riper years or a sick 
bed. How much, too, we should feel concerned, 
if we are Christians ourselves, for those of our 



I92 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

dear friends who are living without God and 
without hope in the world. How very earnestly 
too, should we not desire to see all the heathen 
nations of the world, who are sitting in dark- 
ness, and in the region and shadow of death, 
both as regards themselves and their friends, 
have the blessed gospel of Jesus with all its 
comforting power? They are beginning to call 
loudly for the word of life. Oh, may we all 
seek to send it to them ! 







CHAPTER XXIII. 

THE ASCENSION OF CHRIST— Luke xxiv. 50-53; Acts of the 
Afiostles i. 9-1 1. 

Golden Text. — Acts i. 1 1 : " This same yesus which is 
taken up fro7n you into heaven, shall so come in like manner 
as ye have seen Him go into heaven." 

" Lord, though parted from our sight, 
Far above the starry height, 
Grant our hearts may thither rise, 
Seeking Thee above the skies." 

"T17E come now to the time when Jesus, 
having finished His glorious and self- 
denying work on earth, returns to heaven. 
We have followed Him through many interest- 
ing scenes in His eventful life. I say many, for 
had we considered all which the Evangelists 
have given us, it would make, as you know, a 
much larger book than this was ever intended 
to be. 

13 (193) 



194 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

We have seen Him coming into our world as 
the little helpless babe of Bethlehem ; have 
seen Him afterwards in the temple with the 
learned doctors, hearing and asking them ques- 
tions ; we have seen Him led up by the Spirit 
into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil, 
and have seen how Jesus triumphed and Satan 
was disappointed; we have seen Him on the 
mount instructing the people, and speaking as 
never man spake ; we have seen Him cleansing 
the leper and healing the sick ; we have con- 
sidered the interesting miracle of the loaves 
and fishes ; we have noticed His conversations 
with Nicodemus and the poor ignorant woman 
of Samaria at Jacob's well ; and have seen both 
the patience and earnest zeal of Christ in His 
work; we have seen Him opening the eyes of 
the blind and causing the dumb to speak ; we 
have seen Him in answer to the earnest cries 
of His distressed disciples, calming the raging 
sea and causing the angry winds to cease ; we 



LIFE OF CHRIST. 1 95 

have seen Him calling Zacchaeus down from 
the tree to His service ; have seen Him bless- 
ing little children, and have considered the 
beautiful words of encouragement which were 
uttered for all children on that occasion : we 
have gone with Him and the distressed sisters 
Mary and Martha to the tomb of their brother 
Lazarus, and have seen how at the voice of 
Jesus he left the tomb and came forth; we 
have seen Him in the glorious scene of trans- 
formation ; we have considered the gratitude 
of Mary in kindly anointing the body of Jesus 
at great cost ; we have seen Him entering the 
Holy City, Jerusalem, in triumph, instituting 
as one of the last and most solemn acts of His 
life, the Holy Supper, to be observed by all 
Christians through all time ; we have consid- 
ered His great agony in the garden, and His 
base betrayal by Judas, one of the twelve ; we 
have noticed His trial before the Jewish coun- 
cil, and at the court of Pontius Pilate; and 



I96 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

have seen the testimony of both Pilate and 
Judas to His innocency ; we have had brought 
before us His painful and shameful death on 
the cross for our salvation ; seen His patience 
and forgiving spirit in that trying time, and 
listened, as it were, to that beautiful prayer for 
His cruel murderers, "Father, forgive them, 
for they know not what they do ;" and answer- 
ing the prayer of the penitent thief, by saying, 
"to-day thou shalt be with me in Paradise ;" we 
have noticed His triumphant resurrection from 
the dead, on the morning of the third day; we 
now come to the last scene in the Saviour's 
wondrous life as stated, viz: His triumphant 
ascension to heaven. 

Oh, how different was the life of the Saviour 
on earth to that which He had for ages enjoyed 
in heaven ! His whole life here was one of 
labor, self-denial, persecution and suffering; 
and all endured for us, my young friends, to 
bring us back to God our heavenly Father, 



LIFE OF CHRIST. 1 97 

and so save our never-dying souls. We can 
never fully understand in this world what Jesus 
the loving Saviour did for us to make us happy 
through eternity. There are some very un- 
grateful persons in the world who do not 
appreciate any kindness done for them; but I 
suppose that these are few*when compared with 
the many who do. Now, should we not seek to 
love that kind Redeemer who has done all this 
for us. 

But we now notice His return to heaven. 
Having remained on earth forty days after His 
glorious resurrection, instructing his disciples 
in " the things pertaining to His kingdom," He 
takes them out with Him on a certain day to a 
town called Bethany, on the eastern slope of 
the Mount of Olives, and is there separated from 
them and received up into heaven. The ac- 
count given us in the first chapter of the Acts 
of the Apostles, says: "And when He had 
spoken these things, while they yet beheld, He 



I98 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

was taken up: and a cloud received Him out 
of their sight." I suppose that this, as other 
things in the life of Jesus, was quite a surprise 
to them. They may have been calculating, as 
we are inclined to do as regards our dear 
friends, on enjoying His society and kind in- 
structions for a long time, but it was ordered 
otherwise. I do not wonder either that they, 
as they loved Jesus so much and He loved 
them so tenderly, should stand and look up 
after Him, desiring to see Him as long as they 
could catch one glimpse. I do not think that 
the angels who addressed them on this occa- 
sion, could fully sympathize with them, for 
they said, " Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye 
gazing up into heaven ?" The only consola- 
tion which the angels offered was that He would 
come again in like manner. Oh, how eagerly 
we look after a dear one who is leaving us for 
a time, even if we may have some reason to 
hope that he will return. We watch the vessel 



LIFE OF CHRIST. 1 99 

or car or carriage as long as we can see any- 
thing of it, and it is only when it is entirely out 
of sight that we are willing to leave the place 
and return homeward. This must have been 
a most thrilling sight to the greatly astonished 
disciples. Perhaps, Jesus, in His conversation, 
may have given them some little idea about 
His speedy return to heaven, so as to lessen 
their surprise. I do not know. If you have 
never seen a person make a balloon ascension, 
you should seek to see one, for it is a grand 
sight, and is calculated to give us some faint 
idea of the Saviour's glorious ascension to 
heaven. In this leaving of our world, where 
the blessed Saviour had seen so much evil and 
suffered so much for us, He bade farewell to 
the dark scenes of earth. True, as the angels 
informed the disciples, He will in like manner 
come again; but not to suffer, or to labor, or 
to die, or to be despised by men. He will 
come, as He himself informs us, "in power and 



200 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

great glory, and all the holy angels with Him," 
and, as John tells us, "every eye shall see 
Him." 

It was necessary that Jesus our Saviour 
should thus return to heaven, that he might 
prepare a place for His people, send the Holy 
Spirit into the world, and there ever live at 
the Father's right hand to intercede for us. 
Oh, that our thoughts and wishes might often 
rise to the place where Christ now lives and 
reigns ! Oh, thac in every dark hour of temp- 
tation and sorrow, we may feel that we have, 
if disciples of Christ, a true friend in heaven 
earnestly pleading for us ! 

How different will be the second coming of 
Christ to His first appearance as the helpless 
babe of Bethlehem. Then He came to save, 
but at His second appearing he comes to judge 
the world in righteousness. Then His coming 
was proclaimed by the angel to be glad tidings, 
but at His second appearing it will be sad tid- 



LIFE OF CHRIST. 201 

ings to all His foes. The Saviour may and 
will come suddenly, and — at least to careless 
sinners, who are not looking for, and are per- 
haps saying in unbelief, where is the promise 
of His coming? — unexpectedly. Paul, in ad- 
dressing his fellow Christians on this subject* 
says, you remember, "but ye brethren are not 
in the dark that that day should overtake you 
as a thief in the night." 

The second coming of Jesus should have in 
it nothing terrible to His friends, for it is said 
that He shall come " to be admired in all them 
that believe;" and the Saviour, when speaking 
of the closing scenes of earth and His second 
coming, told His disciples that when they 
should see those things, then should they " lift 
up their heads," inasmuch as their redemption 
was drawing near. 

Now, my young friends, if I have succeeded 
in this little book in causing any of you to see 
more clearly the loveliness that there is in 



202 LIFE OF CHRIST. 

Christ, and in leading you to feel it to be your 
duty, as well as privilege, to yield yourselves 
up to the service of such a master in the morn- 
ing of your days, I should feel that I had done 
much, and be amply compensated for the labor 
it has cost me in preparing it for you. O, 
Thou ascended and glorified Redeemer, who 
didst come to labor, teach and to die for us, 
and without whom we can do nothing, add Thy 
blessing, and draw the hearts of the young and 
also of the older ones who may read this book 
unto Thyself, and Thine shall be the praise of 
their salvation. Amen. 




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